LeBron James, others in NBA react to Hillary Clinton's election loss

On Sunday, LeBron James was campaigning for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton in his native Ohio. On Wednesday, he was looking for answers after her loss to Donald Trump.

He posted a message on his Instagram account saying in part: "If we continue the faith (as hard as it may be to do so) we will BE ALRIGHT!!" He posted a link toKendrick Lamar's song titled "Alright."

James went on to say:

"Parents and leaders of our children please let them know they can still change the world for the better! Don't lose a bit of faith! They're our future and we must remain stronger than ever!! Yes we all wanna lace up the boots, put on the hard hats and strike but that's not the answer. Love, genuine LOVE and FAITH will be the only thing that can get us through this.

"Minorities and Women in all please know that this isn't the end, it's just a very challenging obstacle that we will overcome!! The man above will never put something in our paths that we can handle no matter how difficult it may feel/be! To all the youth out there I PROMISE I'll continue to lead u guys every single day without no hesitation!! Time to educate and even more mold my children into being the greatest model citizens they can become in life! They will continue the legacy beyond life! Lastly, Even if whos now in office doesn't, Know that I LOVE YOU'LL!!!"

James' teammateJ.R. Smithshared a photo on Instagram of his daughter in front of the White House. In the posting, he said he wondered about the message she would take from the election.

Elsewhere in the NBA, players and coaches also shared their opinions on Tuesday's presidential election.

• Detroit Pistonscoach Stan Van Gundy, noticing that his players were uncharacteristically quiet because they were thinking about the election, told the Detroit Free Press that Trump was "openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic."
  "I have problems with thinking that this is where we are as a country. It's tough on [the team]," he said.
  
  Van Gundy went on to say, "What we have done to minorities ... in this election is despicable. I'm having a hard time dealing with it."
  
  He later added: "I don't know how you go about it, if you're a person of color today or a Latino. Because white society just said to you, again -- not like we haven't forever -- but again, and emphatically, that I don't think you deserve equality. We don't think you deserve respect. And the same with women. That's what we say today, as a country."
  
  Van Gundy, however, said, "We all have to find our way to move forward."
  
  


• Golden State Warriors forward David West, who called Trump's election as the 45th president of the United States "disappointing," said a sports franchise would never hire someone with no experience to lead its team.
  
  
  
  "Think about the way that NBA franchises protect themselves and NFL franchises protect themselves -- they would never hire a coach that has never been in the arena of that particular sport. And we're talking sports, we're talking about athletics.
  
  
  
  
  "Even in high school, in college, an athletic director would never hire a coach to lead a football team that's never had any experience in football whatsoever, and we just put a person in the presidency who has no political experience. It's crazy. It's really crazy. But like I said, he spoke the mind of the people, and you got to respect that at the very least."

• Warriors coach Steve Kerr compared Trump to "The Jerry Springer Show."
  
  
  
  "I thought we were better than this," Kerr said. "I thought 'The Jerry Springer Show' was 'The Jerry Springer Show.' Watching the last debate, Trump would make a crack at Clinton and you could hear the fans in the stands [makes 'Ohhhhh' noise]. 'No he didn't.' Yeah he did. This is a presidential election. It's not 'The Jerry Springer Show.'
  
  
  
  While Kerr said he hopes Trump is a good president, "I have no idea what kind of president he'll be because he hasn't said anything about what he's going to do. We don't know. But it's tough when you want there to be some respect and dignity and there hasn't been any.
  
  
  
  "And then you walk into a room with your daughter and your wife -- who have basically been insulted by his comments -- and they're distraught. And you walk in and you see the faces of your players, and most of them who have been insulted directly, as minorities. It's sure shocking. It really is."
  
  
  
  Kerr said the Warriors talked about the election outcome as a team Wednesday morning.

• Asked if he was surprised by the outcome, New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony replied, "I wasn't surprised, to be honest with you.
  
  
  
  
  "The way things are going now in this country -- the educated, the uneducated, the people that were out there voting -- I wasn't surprised at that."
  
  
  
  Anthony said he talked to kids, including his own family, Wednesday morning, and "you can just hear the nervousness. They are afraid and don't know what to think and people don't know what to do at this point. I think it is up to us as individuals to kind of take on that responsibility and everybody has to lead in their own way. We can't rely on a system or one person and we got to move on from that."
  
  
  
  Watching his son fall asleep Tuesday night, Anthony said he thought about the conversation ahead.
  
  
  
  "What is that conversation?" he asked out loud. "That is the scary part for me, what is that conversation?"

• After hisChicago Bulls lost to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, Dwyane Wadewas asked how he was able to block everything out heading into the game.
  
  
  
  "This is my job," he said. "As a professional I had to come in and do my job. The election happened. You can't change that. We're all professionals in here.
  
  
  
  "We know what we got to do and that's what we're going to continue to do -- is focus on what we can control, and that's the only thing that matters."

ESPN's Chris Haynes, Ethan Sherwood Strauss, Ian Begley and Nick Friedell contributed to this report.