Ex-ESPN star claims legendary NBA coach and friend turned on her over Donald Trump support in nasty feud
Former ESPN broadcaster Sage Steele revealed the ‘passive aggressiveness from NBA coaches’ after she publicly expressed her support for President Donald Trump.
In an interview with ‘The Rubin Report,’ Steele mentioned that some coaches in pro basketball, like Doc Rivers and Steve Kerr, sent angry messages to her after she expressed her conservative views.
In particular, she says that Rivers sent her ‘pages and pages of why I’m such an idiot to be a Republican or conservative and support Donald Trump’ before the coach unfollowed her on social media.
‘Just knowing that so many of them are full of s–t with what they say versus what they do. And seeing the passive aggressiveness from some of these head coaches, whether it’s Steve Kerr or Doc Rivers — these people that I used to call a friend, especially Doc,’ Steele said.
‘… Out of the blue, he would send me clips, and I’m like, ‘I just want to talk basketball with you’ or ‘How are your kids? You have grandkids now.
‘And instead it’s, “I’m so disappointing in the sellout thing” — with a coach. I think that again, that’s what turns people off with sports.
Former ‘SportsCenter’ anchor Sage Steele says former coaches ended their friendships with her over her conservative views
Steele says former coach Doc Rivers and Warriors coach Steve Kerr were ‘passive aggressive’
She says Rivers sent her ‘pages and pages of why I’m such an idiot to be a Republican’
‘It doesn’t mean you can’t have that opinion. I did too. I just happened to not do it when I was working in sports.’
Steele then speculated that players with conservative views may be afraid to share them publicly, suggesting they may have reduced playing time.
‘And so when they say these things and they’re quite uneducated about it and then they’re saying it to their guys too and their staff.
‘So those players are put in very difficult positions because if they speak up to someone like a Doc Rivers or Steve Kerr, I don’t know how he handles that in his locker room — but is that going to affect my playing time?’
Steele, who was a former ‘SportsCenter’ anchor, says she doesn’t miss working at the network after she left ESPN in 2023.
She had filed a lawsuit against the company in 2021 after she was removed from the air over comments she made over ESPN’s COVID-19 vaccination policy.
