The New York Knicks’ long wait for an NBA Finals appearance has suddenly turned into one of the biggest sports stories in America. Now, even President Donald Trump says he wants to be part of the moment. During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump revealed that he is planning to attend one of the NBA Finals games after the Knicks secured their place in the championship series earlier this week.
Trump, who was born in New York, said he received invitations from several people, including Knicks owner James Dolan. Speaking to reporters, Trump praised the team’s strong playoff run and spoke about how long Knicks fans had waited for a season like this. According to The New York Times, Trump had earlier planned to attend Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals if the series had continued. But New York ended the matchup quickly with a dominant 130-93 win in Game 4 on Monday night.
Donald Trump praises New York Knicks and hints at historic NBA Finals appearance
While speaking during the cabinet meeting, Donald Trump said, “Jim Dolan’s great guy, [he], as you know owns … Madison Square Garden. He’s having a good year. Boy, what a team. They won all their games.
They really have some great players.”
He then added, “I think I’ll be going to one of the games, yeah. I was invited by numerous people and Jim and I think I’ll be going. Great to see. The Knicks have really, they’ve really suffered for years. They’re doing right now very well.”
The Knicks are now waiting to learn whether they will face the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. New York is scheduled to host Games 3, 4 and 6 of the series in June at Madison Square Garden.
Trump has attended many major sporting events since returning to office. Over the last year, he has appeared at the Super Bowl, the US Open, the Daytona 500, golf’s Ryder Cup and several college football events. He has also regularly attended UFC cards and recently announced that a UFC event will take place on the White House lawn next month.
If Trump does attend the NBA Finals, it would become a historic moment because no sitting US president has ever attended an NBA Finals game before.