The Golden State Warriors have been making political statements for a long time. Steve Kerr has spoken out against President Donald J. Trump’s policies since the election. David West, Andre Iguodala, and Draymond Green have criticized Trump. Even mild-mannered Stephen Curry called him an “ass” on the record. Few sports teams are more rehearsed in the practice of political protest these days than the Warriors.
With the Warriors winning the NBA championship, they have the opportunity for the grandest athlete-driven political protest of the Trump era to date. It could take the form of refusing to accept an invitation to visit the White House, should such an invitation even come. Or they could accept an invitation and use their access to the most powerful man in the world to speak their minds.
The latter is what NBA commissioner Adam Silver has previously offered as a rationale to accept the invitation, saying, “that’s an opportunity that most citizens who have a political point of view would kill for — the opportunity to directly tell the President of the United States how they feel about an issue.”
One wonders if Silver actually wants Draymond Green to directly tell the President of the United States how he feels about an issue — say, the gutting of civil rights enforcement in federal agencies — or if he just wants the champions to accept an invitation first and then feel the pressure to stay quiet once there. We don’t really know.