The New York Knicks have yet to decide whether they will visit the White House, said the Knicks’ head coach Mike Brown on Tuesday.
No NBA champions have visited the White House since Donald Trump became US President.
It is customary for the reigning champions to be invited by the President, but this has not been the case with Trump. No team has done so in his four-year tenure nor since he was re-elected in 2024.
However, President Trump and Knicks owner James Dolan have good relations, according to ESPN. The two sat next to each other when President Trump visited Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden.
Knicks began their training for the new season on Tuesday, and when asked if there is any resolve about visiting the White House, Brown replied.
“No, it’s still something that our guys, or the organization, is internally discussing and, you know, whatever we decide to do, we’ll all do together,” Brown said.
The Boston Celtics were the first champions to make a visit in 1963, and President Barack Obama, a basketball fan himself, welcomed the winners annually while in office.
However, Trump has been having arguments with some NBA players, and during the 2018 NBA Finals, he announced that he would not host whichever team wins, because players from the Golden State, such as Stephen Curry, and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, stated that their teams were not interested in making a White House visit.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, the winner of the 2025 championship, did not visit the White House last year due to the fact that the timing was inconvenient.
Usually, teams organize their visits when they are in town to play against the Wizards. The Knicks will be playing against them on December 18 and March 16.
