How NBA Teams Handled White House Invites Under Trump and Biden

The New York Knicks have accepted an invitation to visit the White House, owner James Dolan said on Wednesday, just days after the team beat the San Antonio Spurs on June 13, to win its first NBA championship in 53 years. If the trip goes ahead, the Knicks would become the first NBA champions to visit the White House during either of Donald Trump's presidencies.

Dolan made the announcement during an interview on WFAN sports radio, saying: "We just did receive an invitation from the White House, which we accepted. We still have to figure out the details, et cetera." He added: "Look, I invited the president to come down for the game. He is a friend. I've known him for 30 years, and I'm very proud to bring the team to the White House."

The White House separately confirmed the planned visit to CBS News. "We have been in touch with the Knicks and look forward to hosting the team at a date to be determined in the near future," an official told the outlet, though no further public details have yet been released about the format, timing, or expected attendance.

The announcement comes as the Knicks closed out the Finals with a 94-90 win over San Antonio in Game 5, ending a title drought that stretched back to 1973, and now appears poised to become the first NBA champion to accept a White House invitation under Trump after years in which the tradition fractured over politics, logistics and the pandemic.

NBA White House Visits: The History

For decades, White House visits were a routine championship ritual. But Trump has never hosted an NBA champion during either of his terms, making the Knicks' planned trip an unprecedented shift in the modern NBA's relationship with the tradition.

During Trump's first term, the Golden State Warriors did not visit after winning in 2017 or 2018. The breakdown in relations between the NBA and the White House was laid bare in 2017, when Trump publicly rescinded an invitation to the Golden State Warriors before the team had even finalized its decision.

After Stephen Curry signaled he was unlikely to attend, Trump posted on social media: "Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!"

The Warriors said they had been made clear they were no longer welcome, and opted instead to use their Washington visit to promote "equality, diversity and inclusion"-an episode that came to define the increasingly politicized nature of the tradition in the years that followed.

Later, the Toronto Raptors did not attend after their 2019 title. The Los Angeles Lakers' 2020 visit never materialized because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Under President Joe Biden, the custom largely resumed, with the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics all making White House appearances following their championship wins. That backdrop shifted again in 2025, when Trump returned to office in January.

The Oklahoma City Thunder's championship that year therefore fell under Trump's second term, but the team did not attend a White House event. Both the Thunder and the White House said the absence was due to scheduling rather than a political refusal, with the team stating at the time: "We have been in touch with the White House but the timing just didn't work out."

New York Knicks and Trump

The decision also arrives after Trump's highly visible appearance at Game 3 of the Finals at Madison Square Garden on June 8, where the president attended as Dolan's guest and was booed by sections of the crowd during the national anthem when he appeared on the arena video boards. Trump later said he thought the reaction was "mostly cheers.”

Trump praised the Knicks' title run shortly after the victory. "Congratulations to Jim Dolan and the New York Knicks!!!" he wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. "What a year it has been but, even more so, what incredible playoff wins we have all witnessed, especially the last four-Maybe the greatest in the history of basketball.”

There is already evidence that the team includes players with very different public political signals. Josh Hart has previously posted strongly anti-Trump messages on social media, including a 2020 post saying "GET TRUMP'S DUMBA** OUT THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!!!" Hart had also criticized Trump in 2018 over remarks about LeBron James, calling the president's comments "childish."

Karl-Anthony Towns, by contrast, has largely avoided engaging directly with the current White House-visit debate in public, but he comes with a well-documented social-justice profile. The NBA named Towns its 2023-24 Social Justice Champion for advocacy on voting rights and justice reform, in 2018 Towns criticized Trump for attacking James while also urging him to "get stuff done for our country." When asked before Game 3 about Trump attending Madison Square Garden, Towns sidestepped the politics and turned back to the fans and the Knicks' title push.

Mitchell Robinson has generated a different kind of speculation. Voter-registration records show Robinson registered as a Republican in Louisiana in September 2024, and that he had replied "I got one" to a comment about whether a flag in one of his posts was a Trump flag. But the same report noted Robinson later said he was "just trolling," and ESPN quoted him ahead of Game 3 saying Trump's attendance was "cool, I guess."

One player who has publicly signaled he would go is Jose Alvarado. Asked by TMZ Sports about a potential White House visit, the Knicks guard said: "If there's a chance, I'm going wherever my teammate goes." At the same time, it remains unclear which other players would attend, and neither Jalen Brunson nor Josh Hart have commented on the invitation.

The White House has not publicly released additional details on the visit. Newsweek has reached out for further information about the timing, format and expected attendance. Newsweek also reached out to the New York Knicks for comment via email.

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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 11:31 AM.