Steve Kerr is no stranger to the big moment, but on the night of Aug. 19, the nine-time NBA champion experienced nerves unlike any he has experienced as a player and coach.
Kerr took the stage on the first night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, an arena he is familiar with from his time playing with the Bulls, and addressed a crowd of approximately 26,000-plus attendees and millions watching from home, endorsing current Vice President Kamala Harris for president in the 2024 election while channeling Steph Curry's viral "night night" celebration in speaking out against former President Donald Trump.
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The Warriors coach joined "The Dan Le Batard" show on Tuesday, where he was asked about the opportunity to speak at the convention and his nerves leading up to it.
"Yeah, that was an interesting experience," Kerr said. "They asked me to do it a couple days before I went on and I really gave it a lot of thought because I knew I was going to take a lot of heat for it. But I wanted to make sure I got the right message across, what was most important to me. After thinking about it I realized 'Hey, they asked me for a reason. They think it matters that I speak my mind." And so I decided to do it and it was very nerve-wracking and I'm glad I did it. Met a lot of great people, there's a lot of great energy in the building. It was a lot of fun to be a part of."
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Kerr received some criticism for his appearance but the feedback overall for his speech was positive as he aimed to convey a message of unity in a divided political climate.
"I got some emails. But generally speaking, the vast majority of people who contacted me were very supportive," Kerr shared. "I wanted to make sure my message was one of unity, especially coming off the Olympic gold medal performance by the team in Paris.
"I just think the political rhetoric, really the national rhetoric on a lot of platforms is just so ugly these days and divisive and I just wanted to make sure my message was a reminder to people that when we come together in a lot of different ways we can accomplish a lot. I think it applies to sports, it applies to our country too and we need to come together."
NBA
Despite playing in numerous NBA Finals games, including Game 6 of the 1997 series where he hit the game-winning shot to deliver the Bulls their second of three consecutive titles, Kerr felt out of place in a different kind of arena.
"I just felt like a fish out of water because it was such a different realm for me," Kerr explained. "I'm used to game nerves and those actually feel good. Competing in sports is so much fun because you have to lay it on the line and you do everything you can to win but you kind of know you're going to lose your fair share.
"There's going to be nights where you lose sleep because of decisions you made, backfired, all that kind of stuff ... but the political spectrum is different, the setting was different. Having teleprompters on either side of me, addressing the crowd, knowing there were millions of people watching on TV. It was definitely nerve-wracking."
Kerr cherished the opportunity and appreciated the chance to convey his message to such a large audience but certainly is looking forward to returning to the arena he is far more comfortable in.
