Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has been clashing with President Donald Trump at the podium for a long time. But his most recent comments on Harvard University got under the skin of one of his former bosses.
Earlier this week, Kerr wore a Harvard basketball shirt to a press conference to express solidarity with the Ivy League school over their recent feud with President Trump.
“They should not be shaken down and told what to teach, what to say by our government,” Kerr said. “Way to go, way to stand up to the bully.”
But those comments didn’t sit well with former Warriors stakeholder Chamath Palihapitiya, who was a part-owner of the team from 2010 to 2023. Taking to X yesterday, Palihapitiya called Kerr a “hapless rube” and admonished him for supporting Harvard for a litany of reasons.
“Normally, when an executive at a company where I own equity speaks on topics beyond their knowledge and reveals themselves to be an idiot I usually just fire them or sell my equity,” he wrote.
“Fortunately, I already sold all my equity in the Warriors last year at the-then all time high so this isn’t my problem but the total ignorance of his comments still stands.”
Steve Kerr is a hapless rube.
He is blindly defending an institution that:
1) Is a Corporation with a $53B balance sheet masquerading as a non profit.
2) Has the absolute worst scores for freedom of speech amongst ALL colleges in America.
3) Was admonished and defeated by… https://t.co/1hTBWWNmYA
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) April 18, 2025
Palihapitiya further dissed Kerr by declaring that he wasn’t even a driving force behind the four NBA championships that the team won under his leadership.
“Joe Lacob, Steph, KD, Dray and Klay deserve 100% of the credit. my 4 yo could have won as many championships with the talent Joe assembled,” he wrote in response to a user.
Shaun Livingston jokingly clapped back at him for not giving himself and Andre Iguodala credit for their contributions, which Palihapitiya was happy to address:
“Apologies Shaun. You, Iggy etc also deserve the credit. Anyone who shoots 100% from midrange is an obvious goat,” he added.
But most fans didn’t appreciate Palihapitiya going after Kerr like that:
“Says a dude that has literally 0 athletic experience or ability and has no idea how important coaching and player (and ego) management is to sustained success. Just making his take extra harsh to score social media points but we see right thru your heel turn, you ‘rube.'”
“Yeah coaches don’t do anything. SMH chamath just stop, this comment isn’t SPACable for you to tank.”
“This is false and is a bad look. Steve Kerr is a top 5 NBA coach of all time. Same garbage people try to say about Phil Jackson since he had MJ, Kobe and Shaq. #DubNation.”
The saga continues…
Related: NBA Coach Steve Kerr Taunts President Trump With T-Shirt Choice