A lot of people try to bring things to Washington, D.C. George W. Bush sought to bring a “new tone.” Barack Obama tried for “hope and change.” The Golden State Warriors, however, will try to bring their values.
The defending NBA champions, notoriously uninvited to the White House in a tweet from President Trump, still plan to go to the nation’s capital. Golden State’s head coach Steve Kerr appeared on a podcast called Monday’s Pod Save America, with former Obama adviser Dan Pheiffer.
According to ESPN, Kerr said, “We had been debating for a couple months what we would do in terms of visiting the White House, if we would or not, how it would unfold. We were sorting through it all, but before we could get to anything, the president beat us to the punch.
“I don’t think we would have gone. And I think he knew that. Several of us had been very critical of the president in the past year, and it would have been awkward, for sure.”
Warriors guard Steph Curry had said after winning the championship, that he had no intention of going to the White House. Kerr himself, has mocked President Trump’s leadership.
The Warriors will be in Washington on February 28th to play the Wizards.
Kerr said, “We’ve been invited by various members of Congress to visit, so maybe we can do something like that. We’ve talked about doing what we usually do in D.C., which is visiting one of the many museums or historical sites.”
The Warriors will also visit the nearby Maryland hometown of star forward Kevin Durant. Where the team plans to hold some community events.
Of course, no interview of Kerr would be complete without asking if Colin Kaepernick was being blackballed by the NFL. You know, because that has so much to do with basketball.
“Oh, he is being blackballed. That’s a no-brainer,” Kerr said of Kaepernick. “All you have to do is read the transactions every day, when you see the quarterbacks who are being hired. He’s way better than any of them.
“But the NFL has a different fan base than the NBA. The NBA is more urban, the NFL is more conservative, and I think a lot of NFL fans are truly angry at Kaepernick, and I think owners are worried what it’s going to do to business.”
Kerr went on to layout the difficulties in bringing on a player who brings unwanted media attention along with him.
“If you are a general manager, you do have to worry about the circus that would erupt if you signed Kaepernick,” he said. “That’s not justifying not signing him, but it’s understanding what you’re getting into.”