It’s been tradition for quite some time for the NBA’s championship team to visit the White House and the incumbent president. Last year, the champion Golden State Warriors declined visiting President Donald Trump at the White House. Instead, according to news reports, while the team was in Washington, D.C. to play the Wizards, it went to visit former President Barack Obama. The meeting lasted about an hour, reports the San Jose Mercury News. “It was good,” Warriors forward Draymond Green told the newspaper in a typical tight-lipped response after the Warriors defeated the host Washington Wizards. Head coach Steve Kerr declined to comment.
The Warriors made the traditional White House visit as champs in February 2016, when Obama was in office, but have not been there since President Trump took over. In 2018, Trump preemptively disinvited the winner of the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and eventual champion Warriors, but players weren’t going anyway because of Trump’s politics. In 2017, Trump pulled a similar move, tweeting: “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!”
