SAN ANTONIO - In offering a defense of NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s handling of the controversy with China, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of kowtowing to authoritarian figures in a “feckless, impotent and cowardly” manner.

Trump last week criticized Popovich and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr for how they responded to questions about the controversy.

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“All I did was make a comparison between Adam Silver’s show of principle and courage in a tough situation as opposed to how our president reacts in the company of authoritarian figures, whether it’s Saudi Arabia or North Korea or Russia or Turkey, whatever it is,” Popovich said. "(Trump’s approach) comes off as pretty feckless, impotent and cowardly by comparison.”

Speaking to reporters before a preseason game with New Orleans at the AT&T Center, Popovich went on to praise Silver for the way he handled the fallout from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's tweet last week that supported pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

“Adam Silver, that was fraught with economic peril, but he stood by our nation and its principles,” Popovich said. “That’s pretty huge these days. Sometimes it’s kind of Orwellian. We think we are living in a place where, ‘Is this really happening?’ But that comparison is pretty stark, when you put our president up against those leaders when he is with them or talking to them and how he reacts compared with the way Adam Silver reacted. I was proud of him. It was great.”

After telling reporters last week that NBA officials had to “work out their situation” with China, Trump criticized Kerr and Popovich, accusing them of “pandering to China.”

Trump said Kerr acted like a “little boy, he was so scared to be even answering questions” after he declined to comment about the China controversy.

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"He couldn't answer the question - he was shaking, 'Oh, oh, oh, I don't know. I don't know,' " Trump said. "He didn't know how to answer the question, and yet he'll talk about the United States very badly."

Although Popovich last week also avoided directly discussing the China situation, the five-time NBA champion did praise Silver for supporting free speech.

"I watched Popovich -- sort of the same thing, but he didn't look quite as scared actually," Trump said. "But they talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don't want to say anything bad. I thought it was pretty sad, actually.”