NBA Curiously Silent After Doc Rivers Continues Spread Of ICE Misinformation

Prior to Sunday’s Bucks-Celtics game in Boston, Milwaukee head coach Doc Rivers doubled down on comments he made last month about the death of Renee Good in Minnesota, insisting her shooting was "a straight-up murder" by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and that he meant it "both" in the legal sense and as a moral condemnation.

And, as of Tuesday evening, the NBA hasn't said a word about Rivers, who didn't so much as hedge his previous remarks, choosing instead to defiantly continue pushing the left-wing narrative about ICE. 

"The training of ICE is horrible," Rivers said. "You all know that."

Rivers then launched into a broader claim that "brown people" in America should be worried that federal immigration agents could target them in everyday life. He even invoked the NBA’s own Pioneers Day celebration, and the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon, as a way to make his point.

"I look at our league, look at the NBA, we’re celebrating Pioneers Day today, right? And I look at our league and I think… Olajuwon could have been taken off the streets," Rivers said. "But we would, right now, the way brown people feel, only the brown people would be taken off the streets."

Bucks head coach Doc Rivers called a Minnesota ICE shooting "murder" and warned that "brown people" should worry, but the NBA refused to comment on his inflammatory remarks.

(David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)

OutKick followed up and asked Rivers directly if he was saying that "brown people" who are in the United States legally should be worried about ICE.

"We all should be," Rivers said.

That’s his position. Rivers is not confused about what he’s implying. He’s not leaving room for interpretation. He’s saying, plainly, that a federal agent committed "murder" and that Americans, including legal citizens, should fear getting rounded up based on skin color.

So naturally, the next question is not just about Rivers. It’s about the league that employs him, puts a microphone in front of him, and sells itself as a moral authority. 

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On Monday, OutKick reached out to the NBA via email to ask a simple question: Does the league have any comment on what Rivers said?

The NBA did not respond.

And that silence is the story.

NBA Doesn't Condemn Rivers' Statements

At a certain point, when a head coach is using the league’s platform to call a federal agent a murderer and claim Americans should fear immigration enforcement based on race, the league has a responsibility to say something. Even if it is the most basic, non-committal statement imaginable.

Something like: "Our coaches are free to speak their minds. We believe in freedom of speech. That does not mean we agree with everything they say." 

That is not a radical demand. It's a call for institutional responsibility.

Instead, the NBA has said nothing. 

As left-wingers are fond of saying, "Silence is violence." So we must hold the NBA accountable for its silence because the league is making a choice. Silence is a tacit endorsement that Rivers' comments are acceptable from an NBA head coach while sitting at an NBA-branded podium, during an NBA-sponsored press conference, in an NBA arena, prior to an NBA game. 

The NBA has a responsibility to make a statement about Doc Rivers' ICE comments, but the league has remained silent. 

(Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

And it is not just that Rivers criticized ICE, which is his prerogative and his right. It’s the substance of what he said.

He did not merely say he dislikes immigration enforcement policy. He did not say he disagrees with how certain operations are handled. He alleged "murder," legally, before due process plays out. He suggested law-abiding citizens should fear being stopped or detained because they are "brown." He referenced a specific official to bolster a claim about racial targeting. He framed it as something "we all know." 

If Rivers wants to take that position, he’s allowed to do so. But when a coach is saying things that extreme, with that level of certainty, with that kind of accusation attached to an individual agent, it is entirely reasonable to ask whether the NBA wants to distance itself from it.

The league did not.

Where Was The Rest Of The NBA Media? 

What makes this more absurd is how the NBA world operates in practice. Rivers did not get asked about these comments for weeks. That’s not an accident. The NBA media ecosystem is tight-knit, comfortable, and largely uninterested in asking questions that disrupt the vibe. Rivers is used to a room that he knows, and a room that generally plays along.

That’s why OutKick ended up having to show up in Boston nearly a month later to ask him a basic follow-up.

And when the question finally came, Rivers did what a lot of people do when they are not used to pushback. He tried to frame the messenger first.

When asked a question Sunday, Rivers stopped and asked who I was and for whom I worked. When I said "OutKick," he responded: "OutKick is a Fox group? So you guys are here to celebrate Pioneers Day with us, huh? 

"That's pretty cool, I love that," he added, sarcastically. 

Those were not throwaway lines. That was Rivers trying to set the stage. It was a preemptive attempt to make it about the motives of the outlet rather than the content of what he was about to say. 

But the content is what matters, and it is what the NBA is now refusing to address.

The NBA hasn't commented on Doc Rivers' claims that an ICE shooting in Minnesota was "murder" or his accusations that the agency is racist against "brown people."

(David Becker/NBAE via Getty Images)

There is a clean comparison here, too, because it already happened.

Steve Kerr was asked about his own comments on ICE. And Kerr, to his credit, acknowledged he misspoke and apologized for spreading misinformation.

Rivers did the opposite. 

That is exactly the type of moment when a league office should be willing to offer the bare minimum of clarity. Not because the NBA needs to become the speech police, but because when the NBA’s platform is used to accuse people of serious crimes and to tell Americans they should fear their own government based on race, the NBA cannot pretend it has no stake in the public perception of what’s being said.

If the NBA believes Rivers is right, they should say so. If the NBA believes Rivers is wrong, they should say so. 

If the NBA wants to hide behind the "we don’t comment on individual remarks" routine, they should at least put that on the record, because that is still a position.

Instead, the NBA chose the one option that lets everyone interpret the silence however they want. 

If you are an NBA fan who doesn’t buy Rivers’ claims, the league’s silence looks like cowardice. If you are an NBA fan who does buy Rivers’ claims, the league’s silence looks like agreement.

Either way, it’s a choice. And the NBA made it.

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