Like so many people across the United States, North America, and the world overall, members of the Toronto Raptors were glued to the televisions in their hotel rooms in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night and into the early hours of Wednesday morning as well.
When the dust settled and Republican candidate Donald Trump was announced as the President-elect, none from the NBA’s lone Canadian franchise seemed pleased.
“It’s a mockery,” said DeMar DeRozan. “It’s a joke.”
And Kyle Lowry echoed the sentiments of his friend and fellow All Star as well.
“It wasn’t my decision,” he said.
But Lowry added that he won’t allow the election results and Trump’s victory to silence him.
“I think athletes and celebrities all over the world – and especially in America – have to make their voice vocal. We have a lot of following (and) we have children that look up to us and we need to understand that. Putting your voice and mind behind (things) and pushing for it is never a bad thing.”
Raptors forward Patrick Patterson used his voice on Tuesday night – on Twitter – to simply but effectively get his message across, tweeting: “Dual Citizenship”. However, at Toronto’s game-day shoot-around in Oklahoma City he expanded on his views of living in Canada during this tumultuous times in the United States.
“With all of the stuff going on in America it makes you realize and appreciate my circumstances I’ve got right now,” he said. “I’ve been here for a long time. Canada’s a great place – and I’m not just saying that because of circumstances. I’ve always felt that way. It’s less problems and people are a lot more friendly and I’ve always loved Canada.”
Dwane Casey – a Democrat who lived through segregation as a child – said he too respects the “diversity, freedom (and) openness” that Canada’s has but noted that no nation is without its flaws. He said that while he’s disappointed in the results of the 2016 U.S. election, he respects the position of the presidency.
“At the end of the day, like we asked when Barack Obama was elected, let’s pull behind the president,” said Casey. “Hopefully that’s what we’re going to do as a nation.”
Yet based on the reaction from Patterson and others in the Raptors locker room and across the NBA, it may take a long time for support to swell for Trump.
“It was hard to watch, on both sides,” said Patterson. “I feel like people wanted to vote for Hillary just because they hate Trump, not necessarily for what Hillary (stood) for and her views and what she (wanted) to do for the country. They just didn’t want to see Donald Trump in the White House.
“The uncertainty of people worrying about their families (and) people worrying about getting kicked out of the country; all of the statements he made throughout his campaign – will he do it? Will he uphold it? It’s got a lot of people scared.”
