美国总统特朗普周三介入NBA与中国之间持续的紧张关系。
然而，特朗普没有直接回答中国通过取消转播和商业伙伴关系等措施向NBA施加压力是否错误的问题，而是将矛头对准了他在职业篮球界最常受到批评的两位：金州勇士队主教练史蒂夫·克尔和圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练格雷格波波维奇。
特朗普在记者招待会期间说：“我看着这家伙史蒂夫·克尔，他就像个小男孩。”他甚至不敢回答这个问题。…他在发抖。我不知道，我不知道，他不知道怎么回答这个问题。但他会说美国的坏话。
“我看了波波维奇——差不多是一样的，但实际上他看起来并没有那么害怕。但是他们说美国的坏话，但是当美国说中国的时候，他们不想说任何坏话。事实上，我觉得很难过。”
科尔长期以来都是对特朗普的诋毁者，他经常在远远超出联盟范围的社会和政治问题上大声疾呼，但对于中国与NBA的摩擦，他是一个典型的沉默者。
“事实上，我对目前的情况没有任何想法，”科尔周一说，据运动员安东尼·斯莱特说。我是说，这是一个非常奇怪的国际故事。我们很多人都不知道该怎么办。这是我正在读的东西，就像每个人一样，但我不会对此发表更多评论。”
科尔补充说，他更喜欢谈论自己熟悉的问题，他还与中国历史教授姐夫接触，以便更好地了解手头的问题。
上周，休斯顿火箭队总经理莫雷（daryl morey）在推特上表达了对香港抗议者的支持，中国和联盟之间的紧张关系由此开始。
上个月在中国举行的国际篮联世界杯上执教美国队的波波维奇赞扬了NBA专员亚当·西尔弗（Adam Silver）关于这一情况的声明，他重申，“平等、尊重和言论自由的价值观早已定义了NBA”，联盟的立场“远不止是发展我们的业务”。
据wplg的will manso透露，波波维奇周二表示：“他说这话并不容易。”他说，在一个充满可能的经济危机的环境中，但他站在我们所有人都珍视的原则一边。或者我们大多数人都这样做了，直到最近三年。”
至于特朗普，总司令发誓他的政府不会干预此事，这与他的团队在上一次美国篮球运动员在中国的国际事件中扮演的直接角色形成鲜明对比，当时包括梁洛鲍尔在内的三名加州大学洛杉矶分校球员，2017年因商店行窃被捕。
特朗普周三说：“他们必须解决自己的处境。”NBA，他们知道自己在做什么。
“但我注意到克尔、波波维奇和其他一些人在迎合中国，而对我们自己的国家，他们却好像不尊重中国。”
原标题：
Trump criticizes Kerr, Popovich over response to NBA, China controversy
原文：
U.S. President Donald Trump waded into the ongoing tension between the NBA and China on Wednesday.
However, instead of directly responding to a question on whether China was wrong to apply pressure to the NBA through measures such as canceled broadcasts and business partnerships, Trump took aim at two of his most frequent critics from the world of professional basketball: Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
"I watched this guy, Steve Kerr, and he was like a little boy," Trump said during the press pool period. "He was so scared to even be answering the question. ... He was shaking. 'I don't know, I don't know,' he didn't know how to answer the question. And yet he'll talk about the United States very badly.
"I watched Popovich - sort of the same thing, but he didn't look quite as scared, actually. But they talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don't want to say anything bad. I thought it was pretty sad, actually."
Kerr, a long-standing detractor of Trump and someone who often speaks out on social and political issues well beyond the scope of the league, was atypically mum about China's friction with the NBA.
"Actually, I don't (have any thoughts on the situation)," Kerr said Monday, according to The Athletic's Anthony Slater. "I mean, it's a really bizarre international story. A lot of us don't know what to make of it. It's something I'm reading about just like everybody is, but I'm not going to comment further than that."
Kerr added that he preferred to speak about issues he's well-versed on and that he reached out to his brother-in-law, a Chinese history professor, to better inform himself about the issues at hand.
The tensions between China and the league began when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted his support of the Hong Kong protesters last week.
Popovich, who coached Team USA at last month's FIBA World Cup in China, praised NBA commissioner Adam Silver's statement on the situation, which reiterated that the "values of equality, respect, and freedom of expression have long defined the NBA," and that the league's stance "is about far more than growing our business."
"It wasn't easy for him to say," Popovich said Tuesday, according to WPLG's Will Manso. "He said that in an environment fraught with possible economic peril but he sided with the principals we all hold dearly. Or most of us did, until the last three years."
As for Trump, the commander-in-chief vowed that his administration wouldn't intervene in the matter - a stark contrast to how his cohort appeared to play a direct role in the last high-profile international incident featuring American basketball players in China, when three UCLA players, including LiAngelo Ball, were arrested for shoplifting in 2017.
"They have to work out their own situation," Trump said Wednesday. "The NBA, they know what they're doing.
"But I watch the way that Kerr, Popovich, and some of the others were pandering to China, and yet to our own country, it's like they don't respect it."
