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Next USA Basketball chair: Players not obligated to support Trump

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Retired U.S. Army general Martin E. Dempsey - who was named the future chair of USA Basketball on Tuesday - stressed Thursday that players who suit up for the national program are representing their country, not any particular president.

"They are not representing President-elect (Donald) Trump," Dempsey told Andy Katz and Rich Klein on the ESPN/ABC News podcast Capital Games. "They are representing the country where we have a system that stood the test of time with three separate and equal branches of government, representing 350 million people.''

Several NBA players - along with new Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich - have expressed concern and criticism over Trump's election as 45th president. Popovich, an Air Force veteran, has been particularly vocal about Trump's liberal use of polarizing rhetoric on the campaign trail.

Related: Popovich keeps up criticism of Trump, rips controversial appointment

Dempsey, 64, was elected Tuesday to the chair of USA Basketball for the 2017-20 quadrennium, taking over from Jerry Colangelo. The West Point grad was acting commander of U.S. Central Command under president George W. Bush and later chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Barack Obama.

Dempsey was appointed as a special adviser to NBA commissioner Adam Silver earlier this year, and has spoken on leadership panels to USA Basketball in the past.

"I tell them this is different since you are representing the United States,'' Dempsey said. "Celebrate the freedoms we enjoy that aren't available around the world."

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