The Golden State Warriors will not make the traditional visit to the White House later this month as the NBA champions. Instead, they’ll reach out to the city’s youths.
Steph Curry and the Warriors were famously uninvited from the White House in a tweet in September after the point guard indicated he would not visit Donald Trump if the team were invited. The tweet sparked a firestorm of athletes speaking out against and protesting both Trump and police brutality against people of color, though much of that was muddled by the controversy. LeBron James famously called Trump a “bum” on Twitter, and the team later said they’d figure out a way to give back when they visited to play the Washington Wizards.
ESPN’s Chris Haynes and Ramona Shelburne reported late Wednesday night that the Warriors wanted to focus on local children when they visit Washington later this month, and though exact details have not been finalized, the goal seems clear.
With President Donald Trump tweeting last September that a White House invitation for the Golden State Warriors was “withdrawn,” the reigning NBA champs have decided to go on a private tour of an undisclosed locale on Feb. 27 in their lone visit to the nation’s capital, league sources told ESPN.
Head coach Steve Kerr left it up to the players to determine how they wanted to spend their time, and the players selected a venue in which local kids would join them. It will be closed off to the media, sources said.
The players wanted the outing to be a personal, intimate experience.
The Warriors had other offers from government officials, including Congress. But it’s unclear if they will do anything political on the trip after the months of controversy about an offer that never came.
