For six years of his presidency across two terms, Donald Trump has welcomed various champions from college football, college basketball, the NFL and the NHL. However, two leagues have readily declined invitations to the White House: the NBA and the WNBA. That is set to change with the NBA champion New York Knicks.
In an interview on WFAN in New York on Wednesday, team owner James Dolan stated the team would visit the White House, unlike the NBA’s five previous champions that were crowned while Trump was in the White House.
“As a matter of fact, thank you for asking me that, we just did receive an invitation from the White House, which we accepted,” Dolan said. “We still have to figure out the details, et cetera, but yes, of course. Look, I invited the President to come down for the game. He is a friend. I’ve known him for 30 years and I’m very proud to bring the team to the White House.”
Trump was in attendance as a guest of Dolan during Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the only game the Knicks lost from April 23 to their triumph on June 13. Many slammed Trump’s appearance at the game for throwing off not only the team’s vibes but also Knicks fans in general, who had to go through extra security and added tension ahead of the team’s first NBA Finals home game since 1999.
It remains unclear which Knicks will be in attendance for the ceremony. Forward Josh Hart used his Twitter account in 2020 to celebrate Joe Biden’s election win over Trump.
In recent years, NBA stars like Steph Curry and LeBron James have been publicly against going to the White House while Trump was president. In 2017, after the Warriors rescinded the invite to the White House, Trump took to Twitter to publicly disinvite them, prompting James to call him “a bum.” Both players stated they weren’t going in 2018, when James’ Cavs met Curry’s Warriors for the fourth straight Finals.
In recent years, teams like the Thunder have cited scheduling conflicts as the reason for not attending the White House. Three teams, the Bucks, Warriors and Celtics, each took in a celebration at the White House under Joe Biden’s presidency. The Nuggets, who won the NBA title in 2023, also cited scheduling conflicts as the reason they could not attend the ceremony, despite having their celebration rescheduled for a later date.
Rumors circulated that the Knicks had declined a WH visit, but a Trump official told Vanity Fair the report was false.
“This is fake news,” the official said. “The White House congratulates the Knicks on their championship win and looks forward to discussing a visit in the near future.”
