At least 3 NBA teams are reportedly boycotting Trump hotels
NBA figures have been vocal in their opposition to Donald Trump -- now some teams are speaking with their travel budgets.
Multiple teams will reportedly no longer stay at Trump-branded hotels. This comes after owners and coaches from around the league both campaigned against Donald Trump and blasted his election.
"At least three" NBA franchises have ceased staying at Trump-branded hotels -- "in part to avoid any implied association with the new president-elect," according to a report from ESPN.com's Marc Stein and Zach Lowe.
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The three teams are reportedly the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks.
ESPN reporters asked all 30 NBA teams about their plans for such road trips.
In addition to the Mavericks, Grizzlies and Bucks, "several teams" that have stayed in at least one Trump-branded hotel aren't doing so anymore "but did not specifically attribute the switch to any political reason," Stein and Lowe report. "Several more said that they've never stayed at Trump-branded hotels."
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was a vociferous Trump critic and Hillary Clinton supporter during the presidential election. Bucks owner Marc Lasry was also a major Clinton supporter.
Figures across the league have been outspoken since Trump was elected last week.
Veteran player David West eviscerated the "fairytale" of a post-racial America one day after the election. Former NBA player and current TV analyst Jalen Rose said he wouldn't be surprised if NBA teams decline to continue the traditional White House visit following championship seasons for as long as Trump runs the country.
Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gandy ripped Trump as "brazenly racist and misogynistic" after Election Day. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr also expressed disgust and disappointment about Trump being elected.
It's all quite a different picture from the early days of the Obama administration, when former and current players played pick-up basketball with the president.
Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.
