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Steve Kerr: Warriors will consider White House visit 'out of respect for the office'

zach pereles
Steve Kerr’s stance on a possible White House visit has changed significantly. (Getty)
Steve Kerr’s stance on a possible White House visit has changed significantly. (Getty)

Though the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors have not received an invitation to the White House, head coach Steve Kerr says the team will discuss and consider a visit if it does.

Kerr, speaking on ESPN Radio’s Waddle and Silvy show, has been a vocal critic of President Trump. Kerr has said he wouldn’t be surprised if the team didn’t get invited, given his and others’ criticism. But Kerr also realizes the good in going, as he expressed on Wednesday’s show:

“It’s important to me that there’s a respect for the office and for the institution, and that’s why I would consider going. But I will be perfectly blunt — and I know I’ll anger people by saying this — but I want the man who’s sitting in the office to respect that office, too, and that means being above the tweeting and the nasty personal insults and trying to unify the country instead of trying to divide us, and I feel like he’s trying to divide us.”

Some of the team’s key leaders — including superstar point guard Stephen Curry and versatile sixth man Andre Iguodala — have made their anti-visit opinions heard since winning the championship.

On June 14, when asked about a visit, Curry told reporters he wouldn’t go:

Iguodala was much more succinct: “Hell nah,” the 33-year-old sixth man said. Veteran point guard Shaun Livingston said earlier in the season he “definitely wouldn’t go.” Other players have openly criticized President Trump.

The Warriors’ decision-making process has had several twists and turns. In November 2016, Kerr said his team would decline an invitation if it were to win the championship. In the immediate aftermath of the team’s 4-1 Finals win over Cleveland, the issue quickly became a hot topic. An erroneous report that the team had already decided not to visit ran just hours after the series finished. Now Kerr’s tone has changed, and the team would at least discuss a visit if it were to be invited.