Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry presents Vice President Kamala Harris with a jersey bearing #1 on Jan. 17, 2023 in Washington, D.C. The Warriors won the 2022 NBA Championship. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Podziemski suggested that there was a diverse range of opinions in the Warriors’ locker room but very few conversations about the actual election results.
“Everybody just has their own opinions and their own things that they believe in, and I don’t think, that no matter what you believe in, it’s going to change anything in terms of relationships with our guys, so we just kind of let everybody have their own opinion, we didn’t really share much about it all amongst each other, we were just kind of focusing on what’s in front of us.”
The Warriors got the win against Boston last Wednesday 118-112. Curry had 27 points that night, as the team is off to a fast 9-2 start to the season.
Both Curry and Kerr were vocal supporters of Harris during the cycle, with both making speaking appearances at the Democrat National Convention in July.
Kerr even went so far as to mock Trump on stage during his speech, boasting that Democrats would be able to use Curry’s famous on-court celebration upon a Trump defeat, but that prediction was wrong.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr delivers a speech on the first evening of the DNC Convention. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
“After the results are tallied that night, we can, in the words of the great Steph Curry, we can tell Donald Trump, ‘Night, night!’” Kerr said as he rested his head on his hands like a pillow.
However, since the election results on Tuesday, both Curry and Kerr have congratulated Trump on his win and wished the next president luck.
“It’s a situation where Trump won. Congratulate them on a hard-fought campaign,” Curry told reporters after the Celtics game. “The whole part about how this country’s supposed to work is everybody supporting each other and coming with the right intentions to lead the country in the right direction. That’s my hope. I don’t hold any resentment or ill will. You want these next four years to go great for everybody. We want accountability on that front, too.”
Podziemski, who is originally from the suburb of Greenfield, Wisconsin, first came to the Bay Area in 2022, when he transferred from the University of Illinois to Santa Clara University. He was drafted in the first round by the Warriors in the 2023 NBA Draft and has stepped up as an effective bench player in his second season during the team’s hot start.
As much as he has looked to Curry and Kerr as leaders and champions, he does not see their political activism as something he would necessarily follow himself.
“I don’t really look at, in terms of politics, anybody as a role model,” Podziemski said. “As a person, as a basketball player, I look up to Steph a lot, but when it comes to politics, everybody has to have their own opinion and their own voice at some point, so for me I value what he says, I value what everyone else has to say, and I just keep it pushing.”
Podziemski, who was named an all-rookie first team in his first season, has averaged 8.2 points with 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists to start his second year. For him, this season is important because of what it means to Curry, regardless of his political impact.
Curry did not rule out the possibility of running for president himself when he is done playing basketball during an interview on CBS earlier this year.
Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry, left, looks on as U.S. basketball coach Steve Kerr speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 17, 2023. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Until then, all Curry is focused on is getting to another NBA Finals. At 36 years old, Curry only has so many years left to chase a fifth championship. It is a conversation that Podziemski has had with the veteran plenty of times this year.
“We talked over the summer quite a bit that he only has so many years left, he knows that, so he wants to get ring number five,” Podziemski said. “That’s his big focus, and he knows he only has so much left in the tank to give, so he wants to win.”
Podziemski is doing his part to try and make that happen.
Meanwhile, the second-year player has followed the example of another Warriors veteran teammate more closely. Podziemski has recently started a new sponsorship with Invisalign, as he has partnered with the dental technology brand as one of his endorsement deals, following the lead of fellow Warriors guard Kevon Looney.
“Over 18 million people use them worldwide, so it made sense all around for me,” he said.
