If NFL legend and New York talk radio host Boomer Esiasin has his way, the New York Knicks will be celebrating their NBA championship at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
While the Knicks have not yet received an invite from President Trump, an issue that will undoubtedly be resolved quickly as the president is friends with Knicks Owner James Dolan and a fan of the team, whether the Knicks will make the trip to D.C. to visit the White House has already become a hot topic.
“When does Jim Dolan tell his team that we’re going down to visit my good friend Donald Trump in the White House?” Esiason asked on his Tuesday morning radio show with co-host Gregg Giannotti. “That’s what I can’t wait for. And hopefully they all go. Hopefully, they go just like they’re doing everything that they’re doing here. I would love to see them be honored at the White House, given this is the 250th birthday of our great nation, 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.”
As proof that he truly believes partisanship should have no bearing on championship celebrations with politicians, Esiason asserted that he had no issue whatsoever with the Knicks visiting New York’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“You go out of respect to the office…I would think that everybody can get over the political nature of all of this,” Esiason said. “Doing the right thing by the team, which this mayor happens to be doing, I’m all in support of. I have no problem with the New York Knicks going to a socialist mayor and saying, ‘We’re the champions, here are the keys,’ and the mayor basking in the glow of that championship.”
The Knicks are scheduled to receive the keys to the city from Mamdani on Thursday. After which, their window to visit the White House, presumably, would open up.
President Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NBA Finals game when he sat next to Dolan for Game 3 of the Knicks series against the San Antonio Spurs.
While championship teams from other leagues, such as the NFL and MLB, have visited the White House during his second term, no NBA champion has made the trip in either of the president’s two terms.