Brad Stevens never has been one to generate controversy, and his players usually try to stay out of politics.
But seeing as the Boston Celtics were right down the street from the White House on Wednesday, Stevens couldn’t help but weigh in on Tuesday’s momentous events.
Ahead of Boston’s game against the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center, the Celtics coach was asked to react to Donald Trump winning the 2016 presidential election and revealed he didn’t vote for the Republican party candidate.
“It wasn’t my vote,” Stevens said, via MassLive.com. “Let’s put it that way.”
Stevens added he doesn’t like discussing politics but seemed to understand it may be unavoidable after Tuesday night.
“The advice that I’ve always been given is don’t talk about politics and religion, and those are hard not to talk about right now,” Stevens said. “… I think you have to be able to compartmentalize. We talked about that this morning, and that’s a hard thing. Everybody is — because it’s such a passionate topic right now, every team’s going to be feeling that this morning. It’s not going to be one team and not another.”
Several of Stevens’ players also expressed their opinions, with point guard Isaiah Thomas and swingman Jae Crowder both indicating on social media they opposed Trump winning the election.
Thomas wouldn’t say much on the subject when asked Wednesday but admitted it was a “rough night” watching Tuesday’s election results roll in.
“It was a rough night, but hopefully he’s good,” Thomas said of Trump, via MassLive.com. “That’s all I’m going to say.”
Thumbnail photo via Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports Images