The New York Knicks have won the NBA championship, and questions are already swirling about whether they will make a trip to the White House to celebrate with Donald Trump.
Trump is famously friendly with Knicks owner James Dolan, who invited the president to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals in Madison Square Garden. Trump accepted, leading to logistical chaos in and around the arena. New Yorkers booed him lustily when he was shown onscreen during the singing of the national anthem, standing in Dolan’s box along with several of his Cabinet officials, and the Knicks lost the game.
Dolan said during a radio appearance on Wednesday that Trump invited the team to visit the White House, and that the team has accepted. It’s unclear, however, when the visit will take place and whether the entire team will attend.
Some Knicks players have been vocal in the past regarding their distaste for the president. Starting guard Josh Hart repeatedly referred to the president as a “dumbass” in now-deleted social media posts. On the day of the 2020 election, Hart wrote, “YESSIR!!!! GET TRUMP’S DUMBA** OUT THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!!!”
The six-year-old post resurfaced after Dolan invited Trump to Game 3. In response to the announcement that Trump would attend, Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns subtly pushed back on the series of security inconveniences — including canceled watch parties outside of MSG — that fell upon the city. “Fans have earned the right and deserve the right to see Finals basketball played here, at Madison Square Garden,” he said at a pre-game presser when questioned about the disruptions.
Not all champions have wanted to share their glory with the controversial president — and he hasn’t always been equitable in his invitations. The New York Liberty, the 2025 WNBA champions, did not receive an invitation to the White House. The gold medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team did only after backlash, and they ultimately declined. In 2018, Trump revoked his invite to the Philadelphia Eagles, after several players on the championship team publicly refused to attend.
It’s not surprising that NBA teams would resist the president. Trump has repeatedly attacked the league as being too liberal and tolerant of player activism — especially when it comes to movements like Black Lives Matter, and he has publicly targeted superstars like Steph Curry and LeBron James. The 2017 and 2018 Golden State Warriors championship teams did not go visit Trump, who angrily withdrew his 2017 invite amid reports that Curry — a vocal Democrat — was considering skipping the proposed event. The Toronto Raptors did not visit Trump in the White House after winning the 2019 title, nor did the Los Angeles Lakers after winning in 2020. The 2025 NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, also declined to celebrate with Trump.
The Knicks are now poised to break the streak of NBA teams not visiting Trump in the White House, that is if Dolan — who is historically controlling, paranoid, and vengeful, and even commanded his players not to have sex for 10 weeks — gets his way.
