Warriors to visit African American Museum with kids in lieu of White House appearance

Tue., Feb. 27, 2018

By Tim Bontemps Washington Post

NEW YORK – The Golden State Warriors went to great lengths to keep their plans for what they would do in Washington on Tuesday in lieu of a trip to the White House under wraps.

Then, guard Klay Thompson divulged the information after Monday night’s 125-111 victory over the New York Knicks here at Madison Square Garden.

“The White House is a great honor,” Thompson said, “but there are some other circumstances that we felt uncomfortable going. We’re not going to politicize anything. We’re going to hang out with some kids, and take them to the African American Museum, and hopefully teach them some things we learned along the way, and life lessons, and hopefully give them some great memories.”

While Thompson made the destination official in his media scrum Monday night, it had always been a logical option for the Warriors to choose a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture after President Donald Trump disinvited them from a White House visit, as is customary for teams that won a championship the prior season, in September.

Ever since then, the team has consistently said it wanted to do something small and private upon arriving in the nation’s capital, and that they wanted it to involve kids.

This plan will accomplish both of those objectives, as the Warriors have repeatedly said that the event – which will be attended by players and coaches – will not be open to the media.

What remains to be seen is if their visit will attract any extra attention, including from the president and his Twitter account. But after months of speculation about what they might do, and the initial reaction to the events in September, the Warriors are ready for it to be over with.

“Not really,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said when asked if it would be weird to not visit the White House. “It’s kind of beating a dead horse at this point. We’re excited about the opportunity we’re going to do tomorrow as a team. Other than that, it’s a business trip.”