The NBA champion New York Knicks could be receiving an invitation to the White House in the coming days. One star player on the team is open to attending.
Just last Saturday, Knicks fans throughout the Five Boroughs and beyond celebrated their team breaking a 53-year drought to win the title over the San Antonio Spurs.
With this victory, it will bring a championship parade through Lower Manhattan and already has led to the team appearing on multiple talk shows and late-night shows. Now, they could receive an invite to the White House from President Donald Trump.
It’s customary that the champions in each of the ‘Big Four’ professional sports leagues is invited to an audience with the President of the United States as congratulations for their achievement.
Trump ruffled the feathers of Knicks fans when he attended Game 3 – the only game of the Finals New York lost – leading to intense security and lines to get in that stretched multiple city blocks.
Still, despite this, Knicks guard and New York native Jose Alvarado is open to the idea of visiting the Nation’s Capital.
Knicks guard Jose Alvarado suggested he’d be open to visiting the White House to celebrate New York winning an NBA title, as long as his teammates were planning on going
President Trump (L) sat in Knicks owner James Dolan’s (R) suite for Game 3 of the Finals
No NBA team has visited Trump in the White House in either of his two terms in office
‘If there’s a chance, I’m going wherever my teammate goes,’ Alvarado told TMZ when asked about visiting the Oval Office.
Unlike MLB, NHL or NFL teams – which mostly kept with the tradition – no NBA team has visited the White House while Trump has been in office.
In his initial term from 2017-2021, the Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers all declined invitations from Trump.
In the years following, the 2021 champion Milwaukee Bucks and 2022 champion Warriors did visit the White House when President Biden was in office. While the 2023 champion Denver Nuggets declined their visit, citing scheduling conflicts, the 2024 Boston Celtics resumed the tradition – visiting Biden.
When Trump got re-elected, the first team who could have gone to the White House were the 2025 Oklahoma City Thunder. But they declined the invitation as well.
Even though it could be easy to predict the Knicks will decline, team owner James Dolan is a friend of the President. Dolan even invited Trump to Game 3 to sit in his luxury suite.
When Trump was shown on the jumbotron, a torrent of boos rained down from the audience on him – as heard both on the broadcast and on videos from inside Madison Square Garden.
But before that celebration, there will be a ticker-tape parade through the Canyon of Heroes on Thursday – where the whole city will be thanking the Knicks for their success.
