Petition launched to discourage Warriors from visiting White House

Golden State Warriors player Kevin Durant (35) high-fives teammate Stephen Curry (30) after winning Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals 2017 NBA playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, on Thursday, May 4, 2017. less Golden State Warriors player Kevin Durant (35) high-fives teammate Stephen Curry (30) after winning Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals 2017 NBA playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz ... more Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 94 Caption Close Petition launched to discourage Warriors from visiting White House 1 / 94 Back to Gallery

It had barely been a few hours after the Warriors won the NBA Finals when rumors began to fly that the returning champs had "unanimously" decided not to visit the White House to celebrate their win.

The report was wrong, however, and shortly thereafter, the Warriors organization confirmed to various media members that the Warriors hadn't yet discussed visiting the White House. As a spokesperson said, "we have not received an invitation to the White House, but will make those decisions when and if necessary."

Nevertheless, there are some people who would support a possible Warriors decision to skip a visit to Washington. In fact, over 2,000 of them have signed a new online petition urging the team to turn down any invitation they receive.

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Citing policies in a Trump budget proposal that she says unfairly cuts public education funding, petition creator Alison Perris says the championship team should avoid celebrating its win at the White House.

"It's important that those who oppose Trump's efforts to take our country and our investment in education backwards stand united," Perris wrote. "Please Warriors, send a clear message that you don't support his irresponsible 'leadership.' You are leaders on the court and in the league, now I ask you to step up and be leaders in our Country as well."

So far, it appears that just one player, Andre Iguodala, has voiced his opinion publicly about a visit. When asked by CBS if he would be open to meeting President Trump, he bluntly responded, "Hell nah."

"We're going to do what our leader (Stephen Curry) does," he said. "I think we handle (a White House invitation) when it gets there. I mean, it may be different. There might be somebody different in (the White House). That's a realistic thing to say though, right? So you don't know what's going to happen."

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.

