According to Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, his squad will not make a decision on whether to accept any invitations to visit the White House, until they meet as a team.
“We will meet as a team to discuss it and make a decision,” Kerr told ESPN on Friday.
Despite winning the NBA championship, the team has not yet been offered a visit to the White House to celebrate their win.
In most cases, a championship team is invited to the White House during a conference call with the president, but Kerr has confirmed that no such offer was made.
Kerr also insisted that he won’t allow any outside forces to interfere with the decision.
“I will put my two cents in, but the players, they’re the ones who won the championship, they’re the ones who did all the work, and they’re the ones who will be very responsible for everything that we do,” the coach said. “As a staff, we try to guide them on the floor. But in the end, to me, it’s all about the players. Everything we do is about the players.”
Rumors swirled in June that the team had “unanimously voted” to skip a visit to the White House, should one ever be offered. However, those reports turned out to be false. Yet, reports that the team is considering a rejection of the offer appear to be true.
Some Warriors players, though, have made it clear that they are not interested in visiting the Trump White House.
Small forward Kevin Durant said he would never visit the Trump White House because he doesn’t “respect” Trump.
“I don’t agree with what he agrees with, so my voice is going to be heard by not doing that,” Durant said in August. “That’s just me personally, but if I know my guys well enough, they’ll all agree with me.”
Star guard Steph Curry also said he wouldn’t go in an interview in June.
“Somebody asked me about it a couple months ago, a hypothetical, if a championship were to happen: ‘What would I do?'” Curry said.”I think I answered that I wouldn’t go. I still feel like that today.”
For his part, Steve Kerr has also been outspoken over his dislike for the president.
To name just a few example of Kerr’s comments, in May he slammed Trump as a bad leader, that same month he said Trump is a “bully,” in January he called the president’s immigration plans “shocking” and “horrible,” and late last year likened Trump’s campaign to a bad episode of Jerry Springer.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.