North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-Un isn’t someone you would want to mess with but then, Steve Kerr was nearly sent to North Korea to play a one-on-one basketball game against him.
Kerr spoke on how the idea was floated back in 2012 that he would travel to North Korea to play basketball with Kim. At the time, not much was known about the ruthless leader except that he had a soft spot for the Chicago Bulls dynasty in the 1990s.
According to The Athletic, some strategists viewed Steve Kerr as the perfect candidate to go overseas to play Kim Jong-Un because he was a member of those Bulls teams. And he also spent time in Lebanon and the Middle East when he was growing up.
Steve Kerr claims that he had no idea of the ideas involving him and Kim Jong-Un. And when he was told about it during Steph Curry’s record three-pointer night, he had a nice chuckle.
“Oh my God,” Kerr said, per The Athletic. “That’s hilarious.” Then Kerr was asked whether he would have gone.
“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.”
According to Steve Kerr, despite Kim Jong-Un being a dangerous leader, he wouldn’t have taken it easy on him during a basketball competition.
“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.”
Imagine Steve Kerr playing against Kim Jong-Un in a basketball game in North Korea? That’s risky!