On the basketball court, the Golden State Warriors are ahead of their time.
Led by ownership who proclaimed itself as “light years ahead” of its competition, a head coach armed with a cutting-edge philosophy and sharpshooters who revolutionized the way the sport is meant to be played, the Warriors changed basketball. And that was all before they acquired Kevin Durant.
Off the court, it’s tempting to view the Warriors in the same light.
Golden State has assembled a collective of executives, coaches and players willing to speak their minds on any given topic, who in large part have embraced the progressive political nature of the region they call home. Led by their megastar, Stephen Curry, Warriors players have confronted the rhetoric of President Donald Trump which they view as divisive and estranging.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Warriors were the first major professional franchise to have their celebratory White House invitation “withdrawn,” because even before Golden State claimed its 2017 NBA Championship, Curry and head coach Steve Kerr were not the only members of the organization who expressed criticism of the president’s tactics.
Still, before the president rescinded an invitation for the Warriors to visit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they planned on holding a civil, levelheaded discussion about how they would respond. Not because they felt they owed it to Trump, but because that’s how the Warriors operate when it comes to big-picture decisions.
“We spoke about the importance of having a process and all the things we do as an organization that’s how we run things,” general manager Bob Myers said. “If you look at our history of where we were and who we were, that’s who we are. We’re very collaborative. We don’t always agree or disagree when we walk into a room, but we come out unified.”
Yet on Saturday morning, a day after Curry announced that he had no interest in attending, Trump pulled an invitation that probably never existed to begin with, citing Curry’s hesitation. Trump notified the Warriors in a Tweet, calling out Curry by name in a public fashion few, if any, professional athletes have ever been subjected to by a United States leader.
“We were surprised,” Myers said. “We were looking forward to having a good dialogue and we didn’t get a chance to do that, so yeah, we were surprised.”
That could have been the end of the road. For many franchises, receiving such direct attacks from the country’s highest office would have brought about embarrassment, humiliation and shame. Not for the Warriors.
“Michelle Obama said it best,” forward Draymond Green said. “She said it best. They go low, we go high. He beat us to the punch, I’m happy the game is over.”
The Warriors will undoubtedly lose fans because they refused to cower at Trump’s words, or bow at the throne he perceives he sits on. While angry fans vow to cancel their cable subscriptions and boycott buying Warriors tickets in defiance, Golden State is busy drawing the admiration of others. And those are the ones the players care about standing with.
They’ve already heard from many of their on-court rivals, who are now very public allies.
“The amount of encouragement I saw from around the league was incredible,” Curry said. “From all types of players. From what LeBron said, from what CP (Chris Paul) said, C.J. McCollum, to whoever spoke up. It was amazing to see all of these guys rally around each other. And speak up and that’s what this is about. We’re not trying to divide and separate this country. We’re trying to bring everybody together and speak about love and togetherness and equality and that was demonstrated in response to what happened this morning which was a powerful thing for sure.”
Going high, as Green and the former first lady said, is not an easy road for a sports franchise to take. Especially because diverging roads have never existed like this. The path for championship teams to the White House was always a one-way street. For decades, title winners have set aside political differences, while presidents have acted graciously, and well…presidential. To understand the magnitude of the situation, it’s imperative to understand what a White House visit has represented in the past, and what it would represent today from Kerr, who has met every living president, save for Jimmy Carter.
“The idea of going to the White House as part of a championship team is awesome,” Kerr said. “It’s an incredible honor. You honor the office, you honor the institution. I can speak from personal experience. It doesn’t matter, you set aside political differences, I’ve had the pleasure to meet with Reagan, Clinton, George Bush, George W. Bush, Obama, I didn’t necessarily agree with all of them, but it was an incredible honor to be in their presence. It was a respect for the office, and a respect not only from us, but from the president himself and that goes both ways. We would, in normal times, very easily be able to set aside political differences and go visit and that would be awesome, but these are not ordinary times. Probably the most divisive times in my life, I guess since Vietnam when I was a kid. I don’t remember too much about Vietnam but because of the differences that exist in the country, the president made it really, really difficult for us to honor that institution. Our differences, I think in terms of our team and our organization’s values are so dramatically different and I’m talking in terms of inclusion and civil discourse and dignity. And it’s hard for us. Every day we’re seeing the things he’s saying. I thought yesterday, his comments about the NFL players were as bad as anything he has said to this point. Just awful. You’re talking about young men who are peacefully protesting police brutality and racism. Racial inequality. Peacefully protesting. Hallmarks of our country. Come on. This has been very difficult for us to have to reconcile, I’ll put it that way.”
To view a potential White House visit through the lens the Warriors do is to see that an issue that could easily be perceived as black and white –or better yet, blue vs. red– is anything but. Their criticism is not politically motivated, because equality doesn’t take sides.
“It’s not a political thing,” Green said. “It’s bigger than your political party, what political party you support, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. It’s never been an issue. So that right there alone tells us it’s different than a political party, it’s much bigger than that. It’s for what Colin Kaepernick stands for. It’s for going and calling every player who took a knee a son of a bitch. Huh? We’re talking, what? That don’t even make sense to me. It’s bigger than that. It’s not about how you feel about your taxes or what tax bracket, or everything else that comes off of politics, it’s not about that.”
Green’s comments about tax brackets reveal a critical layer to the situation the Warriors are dealing with. NBA players earn substantial salaries, and many critics who wish that sports and politics wouldn’t blend view players as entertainers only. They don’t believe players should speak out because “it’s not their place,” especially when fans pay so much to take in a game.
Must. Be. Nice.
“We’re in the highest tax bracket in the land,” forward David West said. “We’re paying taxes at the highest rate in this country. And I don’t think people take that into account. Often times you hear people qualify their statements by ‘I can say this because I’m a taxpayer, I’m a citizen or I’m a mother or father’ as if black people aren’t those things.”
Without an invitation to the White House, the Warriors will use their time in the nation’s capital in a more productive manner. Golden State hasn’t determined exactly what it will do come the end of February, when it travels to play the Wizards, but that’s not a surprise, either. The Warriors have a big-picture decision in front of them, and they know what can be achieved through civil discourse.
“Let’s find something that speaks to who we are, we’ve thrown out some ideas,” Myers said. “We want it to be something that embodies inclusiveness, potentially diversity, but we recognize as our players do that we can be a positive change. We’ll put some good thought into that. I really challenge the players, let that be your decision.”
The Warriors face the Washington Wizards on February 28, 2018. Presumably, they’ll travel to the nation’s capital after their game in New York against the Knicks on February 26, and use the following day to make an impact in the community. Save for the oval office, Washington, D.C. features a melting pot of cultures, ideologies and people from various socio-economic backgrounds, which will give the Warriors ample opportunity to create positive change.
Unsurprisingly, the Warriors will attempt to lead, which is something they happen to do particularly well.
“We’ve talked about a lot of different things that we might do,” Kerr said. “They will for sure reflect our values as an organization. Of unity, inclusiveness and compassion and empathy and those are things that are important to not only the guys on the team, but our entire organization. Those are things that are being seriously challenged in today’s society and it seems that our president is in charge of some of that divisive discourse and it’s every single day and it’s disconcerting for us. So we’ll do our best to try to lead and there’s a lot of good in the world and we all need to work together and help each other and show empathy and compassion and that’s what leaders do.”
The Warriors are the first professional franchise to have their White House invitation withdrawn. As more players, coaches and team executives become willing to speak out against the inequalities that exist and are being perpetuated, it’s unlikely Golden State will be the last.
As President Trump goes low, Green, Curry and the rest of the Warriors will try to go high. For those who refuse to listen, they want you to know this isn’t about politics. It’s about equality.
On the court, the Warriors revolutionized the game of basketball. Off the court, Golden State has a chance to do something much more meaningful. Let’s hope they’re just as successful.