The NBA spent nearly a decade treating a White House visit like a political punishment.
Team after team found reasons not to go. Now one franchise just changed everything.
And Donald Trump got the last laugh when New York Knicks owner James Dolan made the announcement that has the league’s anti-Trump crowd fuming.
Dolan Makes It Official
The New York Knicks plan to become the first NBA team to visit President Donald Trump at the White House, according to team owner James Dolan, who revealed the White House had extended an invitation and the Knicks have accepted during an appearance on “The Craig Carton Show”: “We just did receive an invitation from the White House, which we accepted. We still have to figure out the details, etc., but yes, of course.”
“I’ve known the president 30 years, and I’m very proud to bring the team to the White House,” Dolan said.
That’s about as clear as it gets. No hedging, no anonymous sources leaking that players are uncomfortable. The owner picked up the phone, accepted the invite, and went on the radio to say so out loud.
The NBA’s Long Cold Shoulder
No NBA team has visited Trump during either of his two terms, as many of the league’s big names have spoken out against the president or have otherwise declined to attend.
Visiting the White House has been a long-standing tradition for NBA champions, dating back to Boston’s trip in 1963. The Golden State Warriors chose to decline the White House’s invitation after winning the Finals in 2017, before doing the same in 2018. The Toronto Raptors followed suit in 2019. The league turned snubbing the president into something of a team sport.
The most notable example remains the flare-up between Trump and Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, who said he didn’t want to go. Trump pulled back the Warriors’ invitation soon after that statement. The whole episode became a media circus, with players and commentators treating a routine championship celebration like a referendum on American democracy.
And just last year, the Oklahoma City Thunder kept the streak alive. A Thunder spokesperson said that conversations were had with the White House about a visit to celebrate OKC’s 2025 NBA championship but that a “timing” issue would ultimately prevent the team from making the trip. “We have been in touch with the White House, and we are appreciative and grateful for the communication we have had, but the timing just didn’t work out,” said the spokesperson. Timing. Sure.
So the Knicks stepping up and saying yes is not a small thing. It breaks a streak that stretched across both of Trump’s terms and covered multiple championship teams.
Trump Was Already in the Building
During the NBA Finals, Trump became the first sitting president to attend a Finals game with his appearance at Game 3, the Knicks’ only loss in a five-game win over the San Antonio Spurs.
He was greeted at Madison Square Garden with loud boos from Knicks fans, who had to arrive early and go through TSA-style security for New York’s first Finals game this century. Trump spent the game seated next to Dolan behind bulletproof glass in the owner’s suite.
Some folks in the crowd were not exactly thrilled. But Dolan did not seem to lose any sleep over it. He had invited his friend to the game, his friend showed up, and now his friend is returning the favor with a White House invitation. That’s how friendships work.
Trump has described himself as a “Jim Dolan fan,” telling reporters, “He’s a nice guy, OK? He spent a long time wanting to win, and he’s a competitive guy.”
A Fake Story That Got Stomped Out Fast
Before Dolan made the announcement, a viral social media post claimed the Knicks had already turned down the White House invite. The story spread fast. Left-wing accounts celebrated what they called a “classy move.”
There was just one problem. The White House pushed back on rumors that the Knicks had turned down the invitation. “This is fake news,” a White House official told Vanity Fair. “The White House congratulates the Knicks on their championship win and looks forward to discussing a visit in the near future.” Now Dolan, a longtime friend of the president, has confirmed that the Knicks have accepted the offer.
The people who spent two days cheering a refusal that never happened got to watch Dolan go on the radio and bury the whole narrative.
Boomer Esiason Saw It Coming
Before the official word came out, WFAN sportscaster Boomer Esiason had already been pushing the question publicly. “I would love to see them be honored at the White House, given this is the 250th birthday of our great nation,” Esiason said. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the Knicks standing there with a huge Knicks fan who happens to be the President of the United States.”
Hard to argue with that. The Knicks just won their first championship since 1973. The president is a lifelong New Yorker who grew up watching this team. And America is celebrating its 250th birthday. If there was ever a year for this visit to happen, it’s this one.
What the NBA Crowd Doesn’t Want to Admit
The league spent years building a culture where refusing a White House visit was treated as a form of moral courage. Players got praised for it. Coaches gave speeches about it. The media cheered every snub like it was some great act of resistance.
The NBA became associated with the Black Lives Matter movement during the summer of 2020, players wore BLM slogans on the backs of their jerseys, and ratings crashed to historical lows.
This year, however, the Knicks became a feel-good story, and ratings rebounded to the highest levels since the Michael Jordan Golden Age as woke took a backseat.
But here’s the thing nobody in that crowd wants to say out loud: the tradition of visiting the White House has nothing to do with endorsing a president’s every policy. Visiting the White House has been a long-standing tradition for NBA champions, dating back to Boston’s trip in 1963. Teams typically schedule the celebration when a regular-season game brings them to the nation’s capital. It was never a political statement. The league made it one.
Championship teams have visited Trump during his second term in the White House, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Eagles. The NBA was the holdout. The one league where the politics ran so hot that even a photo op at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue felt like too much to ask.
The Knicks just ended that. And James Dolan did not agonize over it publicly or send a carefully worded statement through a PR firm. He went on the radio and said his friend invited them and they said yes. Simple as that.
Whether every player on the roster makes the trip remains to be seen. It remains unclear how much of the Knicks organization will actually go to the White House. Some players may find reasons to sit it out, and that’s their right. But the franchise is going. The owner made that call, and he made it without apology.
For a league that spent the better part of a decade using championship celebrations as a way to signal opposition to a sitting president, that’s a bigger deal than the box score suggests.
Sources: New York Post, Yahoo Sports, Newsweek, Front Office Sports, Awful Announcing, ESPN, Fox News