Trump May Appear at NBA Finals in New York

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is considering making an appearance at the NBA Finals next week, a rarity for an American leader, after his hometown New York Knicks clinched a championship spot, according to three people familiar with the matter.

An appearance by Trump at Madison Square Garden would be the latest incidence of a high-profile sports event serving as a backdrop for his presidency. Trump last year showed up at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the U.S. Open men’s final and a Yankees game. He is currently erecting an octagonal cage on the South Lawn of the White House for an Ultimate Fighting Championship match on his birthday next month. He has maintained friendships with the leaders of sports organizations, including Dana White, head of the UFC, to galvanize support in the “manosphere.”

If the Knicks had lost Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday, Trump had planned to make a surprise appearance among the team’s faithful at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, according to three people familiar with the planning. But after the Knicks completed a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, the president is turning to the NBA championship.

Trump has said in recent weeks that he remains a Knicks fan and has been following the team’s progress.

“I really like Jim Dolan a lot, I’m really happy for him and the team,” Trump said of James Dolan, owner of the Knicks, the New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden, on WABC-AM, known as TalkRadio 77. “I think it’s great.”

The White House and a spokesperson for Dolan did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Madison Square Garden said he did not know if Trump was attending the NBA Finals in New York, but that the president — no matter who holds the office — is always welcome at the venue.

Dolan has donated to Trump’s political campaigns over the years, and the two men have a long-standing friendship. In 2018, Dolan told ESPN that he got married at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida.

“I’m a member of Mar-a-Lago, and I support him as a friend,” Dolan said. “And you don’t have to agree with everything that he’s doing in order to support him. And he’s, by the way, our president, and I don’t understand people who wish our president to do badly. Why would you wish your president to do badly? It’s like wishing that your milkman will bring you sour milk.”

Other presidents have occasionally attended high-profile sporting events. Former President Barack Obama attended the NBA Finals in Toronto in 2019, although he was out of office by then. But few, if any, presidents have watched bruising fights ringside, embraced politically aligned athletes and sparred on social media with other players as Trump has.

But even Trump, a native New Yorker, may encounter a much different experience when attending the next Knicks game.

While he has been embraced by mixed martial arts fighters and some teams in the NFL, Trump has had a fraught relationship with the NBA.

San Francisco’s Golden State Warriors decided not to make the customary White House visit after winning the NBA championship in 2017, prompting Trump to accuse NBA star Stephen Curry of “hesitating” and to withdraw the team’s invitation. The Warriors were not invited for a visit when they won another championship in 2018, but they did partake in the tradition during the Biden presidency.

Trump has also publicly criticized other prominent players in the league. He attacked the intelligence of LeBron James in his first term after the NBA champion mentioned in a CNN interview that he would never sit down with Trump.

The Knicks’ opponent could also feature a Trump critic.

They would play the winner of the Western Conference finals, in which the Oklahoma City Thunder are dueling the San Antonio Spurs. The star player of the Spurs, Victor Wembanyama, who is originally from France, expressed concern about living in the United States as a foreigner earlier this year when federal immigration agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens. The Thunder also did not visit the White House after winning the NBA championship last year, citing a “timing issue.”

Trump’s embrace of sports teams can occasionally cause internal turmoil.

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart introduced Trump at a rally last week, in which Trump called the young player a “future Hall of Famer” and said he had “legs like tree trunks.”

Giants linebacker Abdul Carter later questioned his teammate’s decision, writing on social media that he thought the episode “was AI, what we doing man.” Carter later said that he had spoken to his teammate and that they had resolved the issue.

Trump has been known to change his plans often, and it is possible he elects to stay away from the Knicks’ first appearance in the finals since 1999. But Madison Square Garden, known as the mecca of basketball, holds both personal and political appeal for Trump.

As the Knicks have dominated the playoffs, the arena has become a magnet for New York celebrities and elite. Actors Timothée Chalamet and Ben Stiller are among those who have joined former Knicks players in watching the team from courtside seats.

The arena also served as the setting for a crucial moment during Trump’s presidential campaign. On the second-to-last Sunday before the 2024 election, Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden in which he unleashed a series of grievances and racism. One comic took the stage and dismissed Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”