No NBA Championship Team Has Visited Trump's White House EVER, But That May Change This Year

Did you know that no NBA championship team has visited the White House during either of President Trump's terms?

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That's right, not ONE. Let's take it back to 2017, Trump's first year in office.

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The Golden State Warriors won that year, and their White House invitation was a whole thing.

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First, Warriors star Stephen Curry stated that he would not be interested in going to Trump's White House. The president, who is famous for his cool demeanor (ha!), got on Twitter the following day and stated that he was rescinding their invitation (although they had already declined).

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"My stance is the same as it was [Friday]," Curry said after Trump's tweet. "And even kind of cemented even further about how things in our country are going, especially with [Trump] representing us in a very damaging way. I don't know why he feels the need to target certain individuals rather than others. I have an idea of why, but it's kind of beneath a leader of a country to go that route. That's not what leaders do."

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Lebron James even chimed in at the time. Which was interesting because he had just lost to Curry and the Warriors in the NBA Finals.

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The following year, 2018, the Golden State Warriors won again and declined to visit the White House for a second year.

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In 2019, the Toronto Raptors captured the first-ever NBA championship for Canada. They also declined to see Trump at the White House (they also didn't go to Parliament Hill to see Prime Minister Trudeau).

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In 2020, the Los Angeles Lakers won but didn't visit the White House because of two main reasons:

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The first reason being, it was the height of the pandemic and safety was a concern. If you recall, the NBA playoffs were moved to Disney World in a "bubble" where players could not leave the campus and fans and family were not allowed in to attend games.

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The second reason being, Trump and the Lakers' Lebron James dislike each other, to say the least.

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Here's where things get a little funny. Joe Biden won the presidency in 2020 and took office in 2021. From 2021 through 2024, the NBA championship team visited the White House nearly every single year.

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The Milwaukee Bucks visited in 2021, the Golden State Warriors visited in 2022, and the Boston Celtics visited in 2024. Only the Denver Nuggets skipped going in 2023, citing a scheduling issue.

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Then Trump won a second term in 2024 and took office in 2025. That year, the Oklahoma City Thunder won and declined to go to Trump's White House.

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Now here we are, in 2026. The playoffs are upon us, and The Athletic recently did a survey asking NBA players how they felt about going to the White House this year.

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118 players answered the question, which is roughly about a quarter of the league. 63 of them (53.4%) said “yes,” they would visit the White House if their team won a championship. 55 of them (46.6%) said “no.” Another 18 players were asked, but declined to answer.

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Although it's just a slight majority, and only a quarter of the league answered the question, it does hint that we might see an NBA championship team head to the White House this year.

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The Athletic reports that although they didn’t ask players if they supported Trump or not, 32 of the 109 respondents who offered comments said they didn’t. Not one player said they supported Trump.

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“I’ve been (to the White House) one time and I’d like to go again because that means I’ve won again," stated a player. "Plus, I got some stuff I’d want to say to Trump [chuckles].”

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The NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, and NASCAR have all had champions visit the White House at least once during the Trump years. The NBA and WNBA remain the only major sports leagues to decline to meet with Trump at the White House.

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It's also worth noting that the NBA has the highest percentage of Black players in major sports leagues, with approximately 70–78% of its players being Black. The NFL follows with around 59%. However, the NHL (less than 5%) and MLB (around 8%) have a majority of white players.

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Do you think this will be the first year an NBA championship team heads to the White House? Let me know in the comment section.

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