NBA Coach Steve Kerr hopes to say 'night, night' to Trump in November

The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.

A familiar tune — particularly for fans of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s — blasted through the speakers of the United Center on Monday evening.

And a familiar face to Bulls fans of that era, NBA champion player and coach Steve Kerr, took the stage to “Sirius” by the Alan Parsons Project — not to drain 3-pointers, but to rally the crowd for Vice President Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Fresh off coaching Team USA to a fifth straight Olympic gold medal in Paris, Kerr said it was “so fun to be back here in the United Center. And as you guys know, a lot of good stuff has happened in this building, especially in the '90s.”

“You young people, Google ‘Michael Jordan,’” he quipped.

As for the Democratic ticket, Kerr said both Harris and Walz, a former high school football coach, displayed the qualities of true leaders.

“The joy, the compassion, the commitment to our country that we saw at the Olympics, that is what Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have, and it is what our country needs,” Kerr said. “Leadership, real leadership, not the kind that seeks to divide us, but the kind that recognizes and celebrates our common purpose.”

“Imagine what we could do with all 330 million of us playing on the same team,” he added. “Not as Democrats, not as Republicans, not as Libertarians, but as Americans.”

Kerr urged those listening, like himself, to get out every day and help people vote for Harris come November 5.

“That night, we can — in the words of the great Steph Curry — we can tell Donald Trump, ‘night night,’” Kerr said.