President Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to attend the NBA Finals game between his hometown team, the New York Knicks, and the winner of the Thunder-Spurs series.
“I think I’ll be going to one of the games, I was invited by numerous people,” Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting when asked if he planned to attend the championship.
The president, a longtime Knicks fan, will return to Madison Square Garden in June to watch the team play in the championship that fans have been hoping for since 1999, the last time the Knicks played in the NBA Finals.
“Great to see it,” Trump said of the team’s success. “The Knicks have really suffered for years.”
If the president follows through, the NBA Finals will join the list of major sporting events Trump has taken time out of his schedule to witness since returning to the White House. Last year, the president attended the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, U.S. Open men’s finals, FIFA Club World Cup Final, the Ryder Cup and several Ultimate Fighting Championship events.
The New York Times was the first to report that the president was considering attending the NBA Finals.
Had the Knicks lost Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, the president would have made a surprise appearance at Madison Square Garden Wednesday for Game 5, those familiar with the planning told the New York Times.
Trump confirmed that he was going to see the team play Wednesday, but since the Knicks won 130-90 against the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday evening, he will head to the NBA championship series.
The Independent has asked the White House for comment
The president told TalkRadio 77 earlier this month that he was still a fan of the New York Knicks and said he was impressed that the Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers.
Not only is Trump a fan of the New York Knicks, but he has a good relationship with James Dolan, the CEO and executive chairman of Madison Square Garden Sports, the company that owns the Knicks.
“I get along with Jim Dolan, and I think he’s a really nice guy, and he’s entitled to a good team because he’s suffered a little bit,” Trump told TalkRadio 77.
He reiterated the strength of his relationship with Dolan Wednesday, telling reporters that Dolan directly invited him to watch the Knicks play.
“He’s having a good year,” Trump said of Dolan. “Boy, what a team. They win all their games. They have some great players.”
While Trump is known to attend golf games and UFC fights as president, he is less likely to attend NBA games – though he has a long history of doing so. Trump frequently took his family to NBA games in the 1990s and 2000s, before he became a politician.
Like Trump’s appearance at the Super Bowl, attending the NBA Finals would make him the first sitting president to attend the championship series.
Former President Barack Obama attended Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Toronto Raptors and the Golden State Warriors in 2019, but he was already out of office. Former President George W. Bush attended Game 2 of the 1999 NBA Finals between the Knicks and Spurs, though he was governor of Texas at the time.
