Kerr said he would have done it if Obama asked him to.
In an alternate universe, Warriors coach Steve Kerr could have played North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un in basketball. You read that right.
Kerr said he would have played him in basketball, too, but only if Barack Obama asked him to.
During Obama's first term as president in 2012, Marcus Noland, an economist who studied North Korea, was summoned by Obama to council him as he brainstormed ways to improve relations with the reclusive country, he told The Athletic.
Very little was known about the supreme leader except he was a huge fan of the Bulls' dynasty in the 1990s. Noland pitched the idea that Kerr, who at the time was a broadcaster with TNT, travel to North Korea and play some basketball with Kim. Kerr was born in Lebanon and spent part of his early years in different areas of the Middle East. Given his upbringing and three championships with the Bulls, Kerr was viewed as a perfect candidate, Noland told The Athletic.
Obama didn't give any indication on how he felt about the pitch during their meeting in the Oval Office. But it never saw the light of the day, and Kerr never heard about the idea. That is Golden State point guard Stephen Curry broke the all-time three-point record Tuesday. Kerr learned of the pitch that night in Madison Square Garden and was shocked.
"Oh my God,” Kerr said, per The Athletic. “That’s hilarious.”
Then Kerr was asked whether he would have done it.
“No. No way …” Kerr said, “unless President Obama himself asked me to do it. If he had asked me to do it, I would have done it.”
Kerr also said he wouldn't have lost on purpose unless Obama asked him to do so. Additionally, the now Warriors coach said he wouldn't have held back because North Korea's national media would have written the same story no matter the outcome.
“I’m going all out because it doesn’t matter,” Kerr said. “Because the report in the international media would have been that he skunked me."
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