The Warriors are being featured as the NBA’s main event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, facing the Cavaliers in Cleveland for the final regular season matchup between the two teams.
During Monday morning shootaround, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was asked about what he thought Dr. King would make of the “events over the past year.” Kerr answered with comments critical of both the Trump administration and social media.
“(King) would be less than inspired by the leadership in our country, no doubt about that,” Kerr said.
“I do think social media has something to do with it. I really do. There’s so much anger on social media, and there’s such a forum now for everybody to display this anger without repercussion. Just sit behind your keyboard and tell everybody whatever vulgar, profane thing you want to say, and you’re free from repercussion, and yet you’re sending out this anger and vile into the atmosphere. So there’s a lot of that included into what’s happening right now.”
On a more positive note, Kerr also spoke about what Martin Luther King Jr. Day means to him and the NBA community.
“I love Martin Luther King Day in terms of what it means to the NBA, what it means to the country,” Kerr said. “It’s become a great day for the NBA, because we celebrate basketball, but what we’re really celebrating is equality and inclusion, which is what the NBA represents. We’ve got players from all over the world, all different backgrounds. We’ve got players who are really socially active trying to promote peace and understanding, and these are all ideals Dr. King felt so strongly about.
“So, today is a great day for the league and for our country, and a good day to remember what’s truly important and what we are aspiring for as a country, and that we can do a lot better. All of us.”
Steve Kerr on the importance of MLK Day in the current climate: “He’d be less than inspired by our current leadership” pic.twitter.com/MBgfWx0qoh
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 15, 2018
