The Golden State Warriors are in Miami to take on the Heat on Wednesday. Like most games between the Warriors and a team on the outside of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, it’s hard to get too excited about it, because Golden State is expected to pick up a win.
Being in Miami gave the Warriors the opportunity to do something good. Steve Kerr hosted a collection of students from March For Our Lives, including several from Stoneman Douglas High School, the location of last February’s school shooting that left 17 dead. The school is in Parkland, about an hour away from Miami, and Kerr is a vocal supporter of gun control legislation to prevent tragedies like this from ever occurring again.
Kerr spoke with the media about hosting the students, and wanted people to try to empathize with them for going through the unimaginable.
Steve Kerr is hosting some students from Parkland at shootaround in Miami today. Here he is, again, with a detailed quote on the need for gun control. pic.twitter.com/XuyJOH35E9
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 27, 2019
“You try to put yourself in their shoes, you can’t imagine at any age, but to have to go through that at 14, 15, 16 years old,” Kerr said. “You imagine someone walking in right now and spraying us with a semi-automatic weapon, that’s horrifying. They had to go through that. So we have to decide as a country if we want to do anything about it, and the answer is pretty simple, in my mind. Yes, we want to do something about it.”
Kerr then praised those involved in the March For Our Lives for working to have “more of an impact than old people like me,” then discussed some of the legislative measures he supports on this subject, like increasing background checks and “really investigating what’s important in our country.”
Beyond Kerr, Steph Curry was part of a cool moment with a Parkland student, tossing an alley-oop that the young man thew down with ease.
Steph Curry tossing an alley oop to a student from Parkland pic.twitter.com/nDYEic3nt3
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 27, 2019
Some things are way more important than basketball, and the Warriors generally seem to get that as well as any team in the league. Shout out to them for taking some time with a group of kids who experienced unspeakable tragedy and responded by trying to make society a better place.