The New York Knicks are reportedly still considering on whether or not they will visit the White House months after their historic championship win.
Even though Knicks owner James Dolan said that he accepted President Trump’s invitation to visit the White House, the team has yet to decide. Head coach Mike Brown confirmed this to reporters on Tuesday as the new season commences.
“No, that’s still something that our guys, the organization, is internally discussing,” Brown said. “Whatever we decide to do, we’ll all do together.”
Sports teams visiting with the president has been a somewhat rocky history in the age of Trump, as the New York Post chronicled on Tuesday.
Four previous NBA champs during the Trump Administration were either uninvited or skipped — the Warriors (twice), Raptors and Thunder.
Last year, the Thunder cited a “timing issue” for not visiting the White House.
In 2018, the Warriors even visited former President Barack Obama instead of Trump. The year prior, Trump rescinded an invitation to the Warriors because star guard Stephen Curry expressed reluctance to go. Brown was the top Warriors assistant coach for both those titles.
During President Biden, only the Denver Nuggets skipped out on a visit after the White House postponed it.
Under President Biden, three of the four NBA champions visited the White House. The Nuggets skipped it after the White House postponed.
Knicks owner Jim Dolan said four days after the historic victory that he considered Trump a friend “for 30 years,” adding that he was “proud to bring the team to the White House.” Trump, a New York native and longtime Knicks fan, became the first sitting president to visit an NBA Finals Game when he attended Game 3.
Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Dodgers visited the White House following their back-to-back World Series win. Star players Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto attended while Mookie Betts and Kiké Hernández were not in attendance.