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Fresh off the New York Knicks\u2019 2026 NBA Championship victory<\/a>, the team\u2019s stars Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, and more are celebrating their win everywhere from 30 Rock (where they hosted a special episode of The Tonight Show<\/em>) to the city\u2019s streets<\/a>. Their victory came after an incredible playoff run in which the Knicks won 14 games in a row<\/a>\u2014a streak that ended June 8<\/a>, the only game that happened to have President Donald Trump in the audience.<\/p>\n Given that, some<\/a> voices<\/a> on social media have been speculating that the new champions will not make a visit to the White House to celebrate their win, a trip that\u2019s often been customary for champion sports teams.<\/p>\n According to a White House official, that\u2019s not true. \u201cThis is fake news,\u201d the official told Vanity Fair<\/em>. \u201cThe White House congratulates the Knicks on their championship win and looks forward to discussing a visit in the near future.\u201d A spokesperson for the Knicks and representatives for the NBA didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Which members of this team might be interested in visiting the Trump White House? It\u2019s true that the Knicks\u2019 current roster don\u2019t have any dyed-in-the-wool liberal activists\u2014unlike say, the Golden State Warriors, home of prominent Kamala Harris supporter<\/a> Steph Curry. But in general, American basketball players do lean left. A January 2026 analysis<\/a> of public voting data by polling site VoteHub found that only 10% of NBA players identified as Republicans, while the rest were split between identifying as Democrats or Independents. Then again, as New York sports commentator Boomer Esiason argued<\/a> on his show Monday, the Knicks\u2019 owner, James Dolan, is a close friend of Trump; he might try to persuade his players to make such a trip regardless of political valence.<\/p>\n If the Knicks do make it to DC, though, they\u2019ll be bucking a long-running trend. No NBA team visited the White House during Trump\u2019s first term. After the Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA championship in 2025, the team expressed some interest in visiting Trump\u2014but ultimately decided against it. In a statement, the team told The Athletic<\/em><\/a> they had \u201cbeen in touch with the White House\u201d and \u201cwere appreciative and grateful\u201d to be invited there. Still, \u201cthe timing just didn\u2019t work out.\u201d (In 2024<\/a>, the 2023 champion Denver Nuggets also skipped out on an invite from the Biden administration, citing scheduling issues\u2014though the Celtics visited<\/a> after their championship win later that year.)<\/p>\n Winning NBA teams began visiting the White House when President John F. Kennedy invited the Boston Celtics for a confab back in 1963. Generations of players followed their example\u2014but the practice has become more fraught in the age of accelerating partisanship. Trump set the tone for his kind of post-championship celebration back in 2019<\/a>, when he invited the Clemson Tigers\u2014that year\u2019s NCAA football champions\u2014to the White House for a McDonald\u2019s feast during a government shutdown. \u201cI served them massive amounts of Fast Food (I paid), over 1000 hamburgers etc,\u201d he tweeted<\/a> that same day. \u201cWithin one hour, it was all gone. Great guys and big eaters!\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s 2024 campaign was fueled by bro podcasts and sports betting companies<\/a>. In his second term, the president has increasingly made time for athletic competitions. In 2025, he became the first sitting president ever to attend a Super Bowl. Afterward, the winning Philadelphia Eagles visited the White House\u2014without the 12 members of their roster who declined to attend. In 2026, Trump told the New York Post<\/em><\/a> that he wouldn\u2019t travel to San Francisco to attend that year\u2019s game because it was \u201ctoo far.\u201d The president denied that his decision had anything to do with a potentially poor reception from the California crowd. He added, \u201cI\u2019ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n