Basketball: Los Angeles based coffee chain roasted over decision to implement NBA bans

Alfred Coffee ban NBA players and Clippers organisation. Photo / Supplied

Los Angeles was divided and social media had a field day tearing shreds of a coffee shop after they announced bans would be implemented.

The decision of the bans came days after the NBA landscape was altered when Kawhi Leonard announced he was joining the Los Angeles Clippers.

Many were left reeling from the bombshell signings, but the chain Alfred Coffee took their allegiance to the Los Angeles Lakers to the next level.

Alfred Coffee, one of the many chain coffee shops of Los Angeles, issued a notice banning Leonard and the Clippers' other prize acquisition, Paul George, "from all Alfred locations."

On its Instagram, Alfred Coffee posted a photo to its story captioned, "We reserve the right to refuse service to Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and anyone else affiliated with the Clippers organisation."

Alfred Coffee ban NBA players and Clippers organisation. Photo / Supplied

The decision to enforce the ban was met with widespread backlash even if the campaign was intended as a tongue-in-cheek marketing ploy.

Angry Clippers fans bombarded the company's Instagram page with furious comments about the ban, forcing the company to turn comments off on several posts.

The Yelp page for one of their locations also received multiple one-star reviews on the day the bans were announced.

But it was on social media were the real backlash flooded in.

Exclusive: 🤦🏼‍♂️ @alfredcoffee is stupid. (BTW Discrimination as a bit is really cool way to identify your brand) #ClipperNation https://t.co/nLXx4zgmcw

— Paul Scheer (@paulscheer) July 8, 2019

File this one under "Petty" (or "amateurish marketing ploy"?)

Coffee chain @alfredcoffee
bans Kawhi Leonard (and Paul George, and the Clippers) from all locations after failing to sign with the Lakers.

Silly season... pic.twitter.com/schu0VdjkX

— Dalton Higgins (@daltonhiggins5) July 8, 2019

I couldn’t tell you where a single Alfred Coffee is https://t.co/tbn9IVKNek

— Hal Lublin (He/Him) (@hallublin) July 8, 2019

Uh oh.... RIP Alfred Coffee YELP page pic.twitter.com/ChnDeC6tbn

— frequentfriar (@xelantfriar) July 8, 2019

The backlash saw the company delete the tweets and retweets before posting an apology on their Instagram page.

"It was our intention, in what was deemed to be a lighthearted and competitive poke at the time, to share a post that we now understand may have upset some sports fans. We apologise for offending anyone as that was never our intention. No one has been, or ever will be, turned away from Alfred. We love LA," the post read.

The battle for Los Angeles is going to go to the next level when the 2019/20 NBA season gets underway, but this one coffee shop has already taken the first L.