Story highlights
Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry has insulted President Donald Trump recently
The team's coach Steve Kerr in May called Trump a 'blowhard'
It would be quite a shock and seriously awkward if the Golden State Warriors went to the White House for the customary congratulations from the President.
The President is Donald Trump and the Warriors are, well, the Warriors. The team’s coach Steve Kerr in May called Trump a “blowhard” who “couldn’t be more ill-suited to be President.”
He went on a post-election rant at a team news conference where expressed his disappointment that “the man who’s going to lead you has used racist, misogynist words.”
Warriors superstar Stephen Curry got into a disagreement with his sponsor Under Armor over CEO Kevin Plank’s description of Trump as a “real asset.”
“I agree with that description,” Curry told The San Jose Mercury News, “if you remove the ‘et’ from asset.”
The Warriors’ David West didn’t hold back either. Shortly after the election, he was unsettled.
“This whole fairy tale about this post-racial utopia that Obama supposedly created is all bull,” West said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “That’s the bottom line. When you look at what the results say from last night, this nation has not moved a thread in terms of its ideals.”
Kerr told David Axelrod’s podcast “The Axe Files,” shortly after the presidential election he has a forum because of his celebrity, so he’ll use it. And he’s used it to share his opinions of Trump, for whom he has little respect.
“I don’t care what side of the political spectrum you’re on,” Kerr said. “People vote for all kinds of reasons, right? You vote for your pocket book. You vote for abortion rights or gay marriage or you vote for certain social policies or maybe foreign policy. Maybe you’re worried about this or that. And that’s what it should be about. You should vote based on policy. But this election had nothing to do with policy. It had to do with hatred and fear and we had a candidate who stirred that up, and I thought it was a horrible precedent for our country.”
You could imagine a similar situation if the Cleveland Cavaliers had won. Trump critic Lebron James, for instance, won’t stay at Trump’s New York City hotel, although team owner Dan Gilbert did donate heavily to Trump’s inauguration fund after Trump was elected.
The Warriors’ Klay Thompson has said he’d probably go to the White House regardless of who is President.
“Just from an historical stand point to see all the history in the place and whose been through there and how long the White House has been standing and what it means to our country – I think I would go because it’s just a great honor,” Thompson told CNN’s Don Riddell back in February. “I don’t have to agree with everything the President does but at the end of the day he is still is our President and is the leader of the free world.”
Pete Souza, the White House photographer under former President Barack Obama who has been known to troll the Trump White House with social media posts, pointed out that Curry was more than happy to visit the White House when Obama was in office.
Other basketball stars might disagree with the Warrior’s should they skip a White House trip.
Retired Laker Kobe Bryant recently told Politico he’d “probably” visit the White House.
“That visit is more than how you feel about the current administration. It’s about the guys next to you, about the flag, about the kids out there who look up to you and the United States. But, honestly, it’s a tough call.”
It’s not entirely clear they’d have gotten an invitation after so much opposition to Trump. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
It was no problem for Trump to welcome the New England Patriots to the White House.
Sure, his golfing buddy Tom Brady didn’t make the trip (no offense intended), and a number of other players didn’t, either (offense very much intended).
But the President did get to chum around with his pals Patriots owner Robert Kraft and coach Bill Belichick.