3 NBA teams will not stay at Donald Trump’s hotels following election result

An ESPN report revealed three NBA teams will no longer stay at a Donald Trump-stamped hotels this season in order to sever any connection between the franchise and the president-elect.

The Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies, and Dallas Mavericks have ditched their Trump hotels in New York and Chicago, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Zach Lowe. Another unnamed Eastern Conference team has elected not to renew its contract with the Trump SoHo in New York City at the end of the season. Stein and Lowe note:

Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban are both high-profile supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who last week lost the race to be the United States’ 45th president to Trump.

Grizzlies coach Dave Fizdale argued the team’s hotel switch had nothing to do with Trump’s election.

“No, no truth to that,” Fizdale said Wednesday via The Commercial-Appeal. “Our decision as to what hotels we stay in are made long before any of this election stuff took place.

“There’s no story here.”

Meanwhile, seven other unnamed teams told ESPN.com they are “currently scheduled” to stay at Trump properties this year. It is unclear if their stance will change as the season progresses.

Several other teams told ESPN.com they have never stayed at Trump properties, while a few others that have stayed at the Trump SoHo in the past said they are not staying there this season, declining use political opinions to validate the change.

A travel expert told ESPN the Trump SoHo has become one of the NBA’s most popular hotels for visiting teams on two-game trips since the Nets moved to Brooklyn for the 2012-13 season.

Detroit’s Stan Van Gundy was the first NBA head coach to express his concern with the country’s decision to elect “an openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic and ethnocentric.” San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Golden State’s Steve Kerr followed suit.