Michael Malone said the organization would never “put a muzzle on anybody,” after Michael Porter Jr. said he thought the coronavirus was “overblown.”
But the Nuggets coach cautioned his players to understand the ramifications of what they say publicly.
Malone only learned of Porter’s comments Wednesday morning as the team was on the bus heading to practice. He said he hadn’t talked with his rookie about them, but they’d been addressed by president of basketball operations Tim Connelly.
“I know that Tim Connelly and our front office have talked to Michael about his comments last night and this morning, long before I realized what was said,” Malone said. “So it has been talked to him. He understands the situation, but we as an organization are not going to put a muzzle on anybody. If somebody has a strong belief on something, they have the platform and freedom to use that. We’ll just try to educate guys so they understand the impact of what they may be saying.”
During a Snapchat Q&A on Tuesday afternoon, Porter said the virus was “being used for population control” before adding, there’s “definitely an agenda behind everything that’s going on right now.” Porter, who on Monday said he’d spent the hiatus playing “a lot” of 5-on-5 scrimmages in Missouri during the break, also said he’d never been vaccinated in his life.
“It is a serious thing, it’s a real thing, but yes, it’s being overblown,” he said of the virus on his chat.
Malone said judging by his team’s mood during breakfast and practice, his comments hadn’t become a distraction.
“It’s not a distraction for me,” Malone said. “Obviously, I’m not the thought police. I’m not going to tell any of our players what they can and can’t say. All I would say is that just be sensitive to the current situation in our country and throughout the world in regards to coronavirus.
“But, Michael Porter and any other player on our roster, they’re entitled to their opinions, they’re entitled to their ability to have free speech and I will respect that as long as it doesn’t become a distraction. What Michael stated, being around our players this morning, at breakfast, in practice, has not become a distraction at all.”
