MINNEAPOLIS – Sitting in front of a microphone deep inside Target Center on Monday night, Quinten Post chose his words carefully.
Post was not offering up his thoughts on scoring against Rudy Gobert of the Timberwolves or the Warriors’ 19 turnovers without ailing stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green in a 108-83 loss.
No, for the past four days, he and the team had taken up residence in Minneapolis, where an aggressive immigration enforcement surge has become a national flashpoint.
Post and his teammates watched tens of thousands of protesters march through sub-zero temperatures in front of their downtown hotel shortly after Golden State arrived Friday afternoon.
He was stuck in the hotel Saturday when news broke that the game initially scheduled for that afternoon was postponed for 24 hours after federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti. Post then played Sunday in a contest that was coated in a thick pall.
The Timberwolves had requested the postponement for their players and staff to deal with the emotional weight of the shooting, and to prepare additional security around the arena.
As a Dutch citizen, Post said he did not want to pretend to be an expert on American legal policy.
But as a person, his feelings were clear after what he called “a crazy” few days in Minnesota.
“I’m not educated enough on the subject to say something truly smart about it, but some of the things that I see, from a human standpoint, are unacceptable,” Post, a second-year center, said. “It looks like a witch hunt out there.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr spoke at length the day before about the prolonged presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis, calling for less division and expressing support for the city during what he described as a “surreal” series of events. Kerr has been unafraid to speak out on political issues, particularly gun violence, dating back to criticism of President Donald Trump before his initial election in 2016.
When given a chance to expand on his initial thoughts after Monday’s game, Kerr did just that. Like many Americans, he said he had read reports about 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos being detained last week by immigration personnel while at school in suburban Minneapolis.
“It’s not like we’re rooting out violent criminals,” Kerr said. “They’re taking 5-year-old kindergartners and U.S. citizens and detaining people. Immigration is a problem that needs to be addressed, but it needs to be addressed by Congress, legislatively, not by a military force in the streets pulling people from their homes.”
Curry, speaking in Sunday’s postgame press conference, recalled arriving two days earlier to a bitterly cold city where thousands had turned out to protest the ICE presence in their hometown.
“It was amazing to watch the turnout and the peaceful protests and the unified voice that was there,” Curry said, before somberly adding, “You feel that would kind of turn the tide into a more positive direction … and then you wake up and see what happened.”
Pretti’s death had rocked the Minneapolis community, and what multiple players and coaches described as the city’s weight hung over Sunday’s game.
Anti-ICE chants and iconography appeared throughout that contest, from fans in the stands to at least two members of the in-venue entertainment team. A moment of silence for Pretti set the tone before tipoff, followed by stray shouts of “(expletive) ICE” from around the stands.
Monday’s game struck a different tone. “ICE OUT” shirts and signs were still visible around the arena, but the energy felt closer to that of a typical NBA night.
Perhaps, as Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski suggested, the Timberwolves’ blowout win — one night after Golden State won by 26 points — offered a brief release for a fanbase grappling with the reality unfolding outside the arena.
The Warriors left Tuesday for Utah, where they’ll play the Jazz, ending a two-game, four-day stay in a cold, heavily policed Minneapolis.
“It was pretty crazy to be here for four straight days during all of these events, to witness everything firsthand,” Kerr said. “It was meaningful, very sad, but I’m glad we were here and able to see the people in Minneapolis and try to help them forget by playing a couple of basketball games. But it’s obviously going to take a lot more than that.”
