Coach Steve Kerr and Team USA are in Abu Dhabi for two showcase games before the Paris Olympics.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — News can hit home even when you’re not home, when you’re half a world away, and sound asleep at that.
As it were, in the early morning hours here, Steve Kerr heard from family members about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, and the Team USA coach had only one thought:
“Such a demoralizing day for our country.”
Kerr added: “A terrible, sad spectacle […] Yet another example of not only our political division, but also our gun culture.”
This registered with Kerr, unfortunately, because of his family history and tragedy. It’s well-documented how Malcolm Kerr, while serving as president of the American University of Beirut, was shot by gunmen in 1984.
Malcolm’s son has been a flag-bearer for gun control ever since, using his voice to roust the topic among politicians and speaking out whenever there’s a mass shooting, the frequency of which has almost made him hoarse.
Kerr and the American men’s basketball team are in Abu Dhabi for two showcase games against Serbia and Australia as Team USA continues to ramp up for the Paris Olympics. Kerr mentioned how the team’s visibility and ambassadorship are suddenly heightened in this situation.
“I feel very proud to represent our country, wear USA on our chest,” he said. “We talk to the players about how important it is to show the best version of us, as human beings, to represent our country in a respectable and dignified manner.
“It makes you want to do it even more so. What we’re doing is very trivial, we’re playing basketball. But we want to put our best selves out there, try to give people a glimpse of what our country can be about.”
This was echoed by Steph Curry, who said: “We’re going to use it as a unifying moment. To use this platform and opportunity to represent ourselves, our families, our country to the best that we can, and hopefully that channels the right energy back home.
“It’s very sad, all the conversation around the election, the state of politics in our country, to have a situation like this. It evokes a lot of emotion around things we as a people need to correct, obviously gun control first and foremost.”
Kerr said the loss of life to gun violence, once again, is causing unnecessary pain.
“You can only imagine what their family and friends today are feeling. Thank God Trump wasn’t killed. It’s just demoralizing in every which way.”
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
