Why Warriors coach Steve Kerr isn’t afraid to speak out against Trump

When he slams his fist in response to gun violence, when he wears Harvard’s colors in a stand against the Trump administration, when he attends public protests, like he did at last month’s “No Kings” rally, Steve Kerr is increasingly alone. He senses it, too.

In the NBA, like the world at large, fewer and fewer of its most prominent figures seem eager to challenge authority. Kerr’s outspoken predecessors, such as Gregg Popovich and Stan Van Gundy, have retired from coaching. The social justice movement sparked in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor has faded into the background.

“I do think there is less of a movement right now,” the Golden State Warriors’ coach told this news organization last week.

In the year since Donald Trump’s reelection, the organized resistance is still finding its footing. Kerr never lost his; he’s leaning in with an arm stretched out, ready to help it up from the floor.

It’s “very normal” for political movements to ebb and flow over time, Kerr said, citing a comparison to the relative calm that followed the Vietnam War protests of his childhood.

“It felt like, almost, the country was exhausted. And so there was an era of peace where there was very little protest,” said Kerr, 60. “I think about that sometimes in the current situation in our country.”

Kerr’s longstanding interest in politics is well-documented. He was 18  when his father, Malcolm, president of American University in Beirut, was assassinated outside his office. He later learned the impact a coach could make off the court while playing in San Antonio for Popovich, an Air Force veteran who has spoken out repeatedly on social issues.

It wasn’t until the Warriors’ second trip to the NBA Finals, in 2016, that Kerr was activated to speak out. His lasting memories of that playoff run include the moments of silence for victims of mass shootings, culminating in the Pulse nightclub massacre that took 49 lives in Orlando, Florida.

As someone personally affected by gun violence, Kerr felt compelled to speak out. The backlash was fierce, but rather than quieting down, he reached out to the group behind the Brady Bill to learn the best way to get his message across. Almost a decade later, Kerr remains deeply involved with the organization that pushed for federal background checks on firearm purchases.

“There’s not a meeting I’ve been in in the 10 years that I’ve known him where he doesn’t bring his notebook and pen,” said Kris Brown, Brady’s president. “We view him as kind of our North Star in terms of engagement with someone with that kind of platform.”

While Kerr’s personal connection led him to adopt the issue as a “pet project,” he has not shied away from other causes. He delivered a wide-ranging speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2024 and, a few months later, spoke up for “academic freedom” while commending Harvard for standing “up to the bully” after the Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding over its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Kerr is clearly not afraid to ruffle a few feathers. His support of Harvard drew the ire of a former Warriors owner, Chamath Palihapitiya, who described the coach as a “hapless rube.”

“I think Steve has a strong sense of fairness and justice. I don’t think that came about overnight. I think that’s who he is as a human being. I think his family represented that,” said assistant coach Ron Adams, who felt strongly enough to defend the coach in a letter to the editor of the New York Post in response to Palihapitiya. “It’s just part of his belief system. It’s part of his understanding of justice. It’s a matter of seeing the nature of our culture and the whole idea of trying to bring everyone together. I think it’s just a part of his DNA.”

Adams, 77, is himself interested in politics to a such degree that he has been described as the biggest news junkie on the team. He and Kerr both became acquainted with people who would later work for Barack Obama, including senior adviser David Axelrod, during their separate stints in Chicago.

The Warriors were the seventh NBA organization Adams had  worked for when Kerr recruited him to his original coaching staff in 2014. Adams said the conversations that go beyond basketball take place “more so here” than anywhere else.

“I would say that was of no surprise to me,” he said. “In fact, it was welcomed.”

The NBA has a long history of activism, beginning with Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1960s, that reached an apex during the 2020 season played inside an Orlando “bubble” that coincided with a string of police killings of unarmed people of color. The league played its games on courts with the message, “Black Lives Matter.” Players kneeled for the national anthem. The Milwaukee Bucks called off a playoff game.

LeBron James wore a red, MAGA-style hat inscribed instead with, “Arrest the cops that killed Breonna Taylor,” and encouraged his fellow players to use their voices.

“The greatest thing that could come out of this is guys in this bubble, guys who are maybe scared at points in time [might not] speak about this because they feel like it may affect how people view them,” James told ESPN. “They say, ‘I’m not LeBron. I can’t do that. He can go up there and say that. It might affect my livelihood.’ This is a time where we’re being heard.”

James is just one prominent example of a larger trend. As far back as 2014, James used his platform to express support for Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old shot and killed by an armed Neighborhood Watch volunteer, and he continued to regularly weigh in on social and political issues on social media. Since he endorsed Kamala Harris for president on Oct. 31, 2024, James has posted 170 times on the social media platform X; the closest he has come to political discourse was reposting a message from Obama sending thoughts and prayers to Los Angeles fire victims.

Appearing at the 2025 Human Rights Summit last month at the University of Connecticut, the journalist Pablo Torre, formerly of ESPN, said the silencing effect comes down to money.

“There is now this acknowledgement that we all have a number,” he said at the summit, referencing the recent Riyadh Comedy Festival and Saudi Arabia’s other ventures into generating positive public opinion via sports. “That’s the calculus that every athlete is making. That’s the calculus in the aftermath of Colin Kaepernick that LeBron James, on some level, is making. ‘Why was I campaigning for Hillary Clinton in 2016? Why am I more silent now than I was then?’

“Why are the most famous athletes with the biggest platforms less vocal now as this administration is more autocratic than it’s ever been, than maybe any administration in America has ever been? “he said. “Everybody has a number. It turns out that the number might not be as high as we would’ve hoped.”

One source at the league office familiar with its advocacy efforts pushed back on the narrative, saying that “guys are still engaged,” but suggested another reason for why they are less outspoken.

“The hot issues, the ones that are historically very important to players in our league — police accountability, criminal justice — aren’t at the fore as they were (in 2020),” the source said.

Behind the scenes, work continues on the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition, which formed to help provide the infrastructure for players to get involved in such issues and claims 10 legislative victories since it was founded in 2020.

There are still some hot-button issues on which Kerr is content to pass the ball. He drew a direct rebuke from President Trump in 2019 when he declined to weigh in on human rights in China, where the NBA has business interests. More recently, the typically loquacious coach reserved himself to a single word when asked whether he was concerned about the integrity of the NBA given its partnerships with sports-betting companies. (“No,” he said.)

When it comes to standing up to Trump, or attending the No Kings rally, Kerr said, “I just felt like I was gonna go. I disagree with everything Trump is doing pretty much.”

And so, two days before the Warriors would fly to Los Angeles for their season-opener, Kerr donned a ball cap and a pair of sunglasses and joined thousands of other protesters on San Francisco’s Embarcadero, proving yet again he is much more than a basketball coach.

“It’s my responsibility as a citizen to take part in that stuff. It’s not saying words in an interview; it’s actually showing up,” Kerr said. “I’m still just coaching my team and living my life. But I’m just trying to take part like every other citizen should. … I do think it is important since I have this platform to speak up for things I believe in and for people who maybe don’t have that platform.”