GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Petition lobbies Golden State Warriors to skip potential White House visit

 

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said it would be up to his players to decide whether to accept a White House visit invitation.

More than 50,000 people have signed an online petition started by the social change group CREDO Action, urging the Golden State Warriors to turn down a potential visit to the White House should President Trump invite the newly crowned NBA champions.

The San Francisco-based organization asks its supporters to "Tell the Golden State Warriors: Not one NBA champion at Trump’s White House."

The petition comes in response to coach Steve Kerr’s comments last week on a potential White House visit. Kerr, who has called Trump a “blowhard” and tabbed him “ill-suited” for the presidency in past comments, said last week on the TK Show podcast that he believes it’s “important to consider a potential invitation because I think it could have really positive ramifications if we did go.”

“I do think there’s something to respecting the office, respecting our institutions, our government,” Kerr said. “And I think it could make a statement in a time where there’s so much divide and everybody seems to be angry with each other.”

Warriors superstar Stephen Curry has publicly expressed his feelings about the president, and Andre Iguodala told USA TODAY Sports he was against a White House visit while adding that “there might be somebody different” in office by the time the Warriors might carry on the tradition. Even if an invitation is extended, it’s uncertain when it would be. After winning the title in June 2015, the Warriors visited President Obama’s White House the following February. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2016 visit, meanwhile, took place in November.

The Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots visited the White House in April, and the Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins have publicly said they would go if invited.

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