Spurs coach Popovich calls Trump a 'soulless coward'
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich labeled controversial United States president Donald Trump a "soulless coward" for false claims about his predecessors not calling the families of fallen soldiers.
Trump has angered players and representatives from the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB due to a number of comments made about issues in the United States, and he was at it again on Monday.
The 71-year-old claimed that former president Barack Obama did not call the families of fallen service members, and it drew a response from one of his most vocal critics Popovich.
Having already said Trump is "embarrassing to our institutions and what we all stand for", five-time NBA championship-winning coach Popovich may have taken his frustrations to another level following the president's latest remarks.
Popovich who served in the Air Force and is the head coach for the United States national basketball team told the Nation: "I want to say something and please just let me talk and please make sure this is on the record.
"I've been amazed and disappointed by so much of what this president had said, and his approach to running this country, which seems to be one of just a never-ending divisiveness. But his comments today about those who have lost loved ones in times of war and his lies that previous presidents Obama and [George W] Bush never contacted their families, is so beyond the pale, I almost don't have the words.
"This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others. This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner and to lie about how previous presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers is as low as it gets. We have a pathological liar in the White House: unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day.
"The people who work with this President should be ashamed because they know it better than anyone just how unfit he is, and yet they choose to do nothing about it. This is their shame most of all."