San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich tore into fans Wednesday after they started booing one of their former players.
Footage from the game shows fans jeering at Los Angeles Clippers guard Kawhi Leonard as he shot free throws in the second quarter. Leonard hit his first of two free throw attempts and gave his teammates high-fives as he tried to drown out the booing.
Popovich interrupted the game and hopped on the microphone to tell Spurs fans to stop.
Never seen this before in sports: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich got on the mic in middle of the game tonight and told fans to stop booing Kawhi Leonard, who years ago forced his way out of San Antonio.
“That’s not who we are.”pic.twitter.com/8csv7Z2f7X
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 23, 2023
“Excuse me for a second!” Popovich said. “Can we stop all the booing and let these guys play? It’s got no class. That’s not who we are. Knock off the booing.”
Popovich then walked back to the Spurs sideline as his message was met with a mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd. He gestured to the crowd again to cut out the negative behavior.
“Pop telling the fans to lay off Kawhi Leonard. That’s not San Antonio,” said the announcer.
The five-time championship winning coach’s speech was met with mixed reactions online.
“Let the fans who paid a lot of money to attend the game boo if they want to. Go to bed Popovich,” said John Krisesel of PowerTripKFan.
“In rewatching this for the 50th time (because I still can’t believe this actually happened) my favorite part is the emphatic “CUT IT OUT” arm gesture after the mic work was over. Pop is a disease,” tweeted sports radio host Sean Pendergast.
“Fans booing Pop is easily the greatest embarrassment of this fanbase and ultimately this season. Just disgusting,” tweeted sports podcast host Mac Pena.
NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard’s tenure with San Antonio Spurs— which culminated in a 2014 NBA title— went south after forcing his way out of the franchise in 2018. The Spurs traded Leonard to the Toronto Raptors, where he spearheaded a run to the 2019 NBA title. Following the title run, Leonard left the Raptors for the Los Angeles Clippers, where he has been plagued with injuries and has struggled to stay on the court.