Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden: Here are all the banned items for the Knicks vs Spurs NBA Finals game

Madison Square Garden is hosting its first NBA Finals game in 27 years today. Donald Trump decided he was coming too.

The president is expected at Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs at MSG. This will make him the first sitting US president ever to attend an NBA Finals game. Trump, a self-described lifelong Knicks fan, said he was personally invited by team owner James Dolan, a longtime donor to his political campaigns. Sweet deal for everyone except the fans who paid $15,000 for a ticket and then had to take their shoes off to get in.

Full list of banned items at Madison Square Garden as Donald Trump attends Knicks vs Spurs NBA Finals game

Inside MSG:

• No bags, no backpacks, no purses, and no storage available at the venue if you show up with one. Discard it or leave the line; those were the options.

• Full Secret Service banned items list, which includes: weapons, ammunition, explosives, drones, laser pointers, aerosols, selfie sticks, glass containers, metal containers, balloons, and recreational mobility devices.

• A TSA-style screening procedure for all attendees, advising fans to arrive two hours early.

Outside MSG:

• A five-block hard perimeter around MSG — no vehicle access, no pedestrian access unless you had a ticket, a train ticket for Penn Station, credentials, or authorized business inside the zone.

• Backpacks, bags, and alcohol are banned even just to enter the secured perimeter, not just the arena.

• Bars and restaurants inside the perimeter are operating under strict capacity limits.

• Five NYPD/Secret Service screening checkpoints were set up around the perimeter just to enter the area

• The outdoor watch party outside MSG, where thousands of fans had gathered for Games 1 and 2, was canceled entirely because of Trump's attendance.

• Tickets for the game start at more than $9,000, meaning the watch party was the only way most fans could experience the night outside.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who will also be at the game, scrambled to set up alternative watch parties at Bryant Park, Central Park, and Brooklyn Bowl.

When a reporter raised this with Trump, he said fans could watch on television, adding: "It's sort of semi-free to watch it on television. But that's the way life goes."

New York had a lot to say. The players, diplomatically, said nothing

Fans were furious. Some predicted and seemingly promised loud boos from the crowd. Trump has a history of mixed receptions at New York sporting events: he was booed at last year's US Open men's tennis final, and again at a Yankees game, both times with some cheers mixed in. MSG is not a neutral room.

Karl-Anthony Towns sidestepped the question entirely, saying: "We've got to be desperate for the fans, who have earned the right and deserve the right to see Finals basketball played at Madison Square Garden."

OG Anunoby was even blunter: "I think he'll just be there watching the game. We're going to play our game. Try to win the game." Correct answer.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, for his part, welcomed the visit, recalling Trump as a genuine Knicks fan long before politics: "I was there at many Knicks games with him in the old days."

The Knicks entered Game 3 leading the series 2-0, one win away from putting the Spurs in an impossible hole. Whether Trump's presence helped or hurt the vibe is a conversation for another day. New York fans had already made their feelings clear before tip-off.