Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Daunte Wright shooting: ‘It just makes you sick to your stomach’

For about 5½ minutes, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spoke while showing visible anger. He became increasingly frustrated as he processed a Minneapolis police officer fatally shooting Daunte Wright, an unarmed Black man during a traffic stop.

"It just makes you sick to your stomach. How many times does it have to happen?" Popovich said before the Spurs’ game against the Orlando Magic on Monday. "As sick to our stomachs that we might feel, that individual is dead. He’s dead. And his family is grieving. And his friends are grieving. And we just keep moving on as if nothing is happening."

Popovich talked in depth about the United States’ problems with racism, police brutality and school shootings, along with poignant criticism toward Republican legislators and former President Donald Trump.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on the Daunte Wright shooting, gun violence and the state of American politics pic.twitter.com/C2NQRCycjM

"We see what’s happening with policing and Black men and some other people of color," Popovich said. "With the massacres of our children, it’s the same thing. It goes on and on, and everybody says, 'When is it going to be enough?' Of course, I don’t have those answers. But the people who continually fight to maintain that status quo are not good people."

Popovich described Texas Governor Greg Abbott as "deplorable" and "a liar" for various reasons, including his resistance to stricter gun laws, relaxing safety protocols to mitigate the coronavirus and perpetuating unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

"Do these people have grandchildren? Do they want their grandchildren to go to work and go to school and go through these drills and worry about being murdered?" Popovich said. "What does it take? Then care more about them than your freaking power and your position and your donors. With policing, it’s the same damn way. How many young Black kids have to be killed for no freaking reason? How many so that we can empower the police units? We need to find out who funds these people. I want to know what owners in the NBA fund these people who perpetrate these lies. Maybe that’s a good place to start so it’s all transparent."

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