OAKLAND–It would be unlike the Golden State Warriors to play to the feelings of a few individuals.
But as the team’s Media Day trudged along on Friday afternoon, one voice turned to two, two voices turned to three, and eventually, nearly every Warriors’ player was able to provide their individual viewpoint on a complex topic that will soon be discussed as a team.
Throughout the day, general manager Bob Myers, head coach Steve Kerr, and nearly all of the Warriors’ players were asked about a potential visit to the White House to celebrate the team’s 2017 NBA Championship. While everyone deferred to a meeting the team will hold in the near future to discuss the impact a potential visit would have, it’s hard to imagine Golden State paying President Donald Trump a visit this year.
The Warriors’ unquestioned leader, Steph Curry, was the most outspoken member of the franchise on the topic on Friday, admitting that even with a team discussion, it will hard for him to change his opinion on the matter.
I don’t want to go,” Curry said. “That’s kind of the nucleus of my belief. It’s different, it’s not just me going to the White House. If it was, this would be a pretty short conversation.”
Curry isn’t typically as opinionated as many of his teammates, but when it comes to this particular issue, he’s leading the charge. The Warriors’ star thinks a White House visit would send the wrong message to the greater community.
“That we don’t stand for basically what our president, the things that he’s said and the things that he hasn’t said in the right times and that we won’t stand for it,” Curry said, when asked what declining an invitation would mean. “By acting and not going, hopefully that will inspire some change in what we tolerate in this country and what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye to.”
Veteran forward David West is another critic of President Trump’s, and though he didn’t share exactly what he would tell the Warriors when the team met to discuss a White House visit, he said there will be no doubt where he stands.
“I will let everybody know my opinion,” West said, in a rather blunt manner.
The team’s 2015 NBA Finals MVP, Andre Igoudala, shared a company line when he was asked about the potential of a White House visit.
“We’ll discuss that as a team,” Igoudala said.
But if Igoudala was the deciding vote, there will be no White House ceremony.
“North Korea is on our a**, I heard, so we’ve got bigger problems than some guys shooting baskets going to the White House,” Igoudala said.
The Warriors didn’t want to blow the matter out of proportion, but on Friday, the team’s players made it clear. If the vote was held today, and the vote was restricted to the team, there would be no White House visit.