Blazers' Batum apologizes for anti-Spanish remark

Portland Trail Blazers small forward Nicolas Batum meant no offense with his anti-Spanish jab. It was not meant as a cultural or racist insult.

In Game 1, reporters spotted a laminated sign in the Trail Blazers' locker room that read, "We don't lose to Spanish players," among other battle tropes. 

Batum took responsibility and apologized for his comments on Tuesday.

"I apologize if I hurt some people," Batum told Michael Wallace of ESPN. "But I have total respect for Marc Gasol. He knows that. We've talked about it sometimes."

Instead, Batum said the comment stemmed from the heated rivalry between Spain and France for basketball superiority in Europe.

Most recently, the French eliminated the Spanish in the Basketball World Cup in 2014. Batum and Gasol played major roles for their respective countries.

"We beat them; they beat us," Batum said of his international career. "They crushed my Olympic dreams; we crushed their World Cup dreams."

"We're maybe the two best teams in Europe right now. We go at each other every summer, and that's why respect each other so much. We heard bad stuff [from them] against us, too. We know that's nothing against us and the countries. I have nothing against Spain or Marc."

As for Gasol, he declined to comment. 

"I don't have no take," Gasol said on Tuesday. "And if I don't take anything out of it, I don't expect any of you guys [in the media] to take anything out of it. As far as I know, none of you guys are Spanish. So I hope nobody is bothered by that."