But there are so many others. An appearance with this deeply unpopular president, a photo-op that Trump would inevitably exploit as an endorsement, would tarnish the communal joy felt by so many during and since the team\u2019s historic run.<\/p>\n
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Once, White House invitations for sports teams were an easy gig for all involved. Presidents got team jerseys emblazoned with their names, and players got to smile and laugh with the most powerful person in the world. It was a harmless championship perk.<\/p>\n
That changed when Trump became president.<\/p>\n
During Trump\u2019s first term, six members of the New England Patriots<\/a> skipped the team\u2019s White House visit after their 2017 Super Bowl win. Some directly called out the president\u2019s rhetoric and policies.<\/p>\n Not counting the Knicks, there have been four NBA championship teams during Trump\u2019s two presidencies \u2014 the Golden State Warriors (two championships), the Toronto Raptors, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. None have visited a Trump White House.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of the differences that exist in the country, the president made it really, really difficult for us to honor that institution,\u201d Steve Kerr<\/a>, the Warriors\u2019 coach and an outspoken Trump critic, said in 2017 after his team\u2019s championship. \u201cOur differences in terms of our team and organization\u2019s values are so dramatically different. I\u2019m talking in terms of inclusion, civil discourse, and dignity. It\u2019s hard for us. Every day we\u2019re seeing the things he\u2019s saying.\u201d<\/p>\n In a petty tweet<\/a>, Trump rescinded his invitation.<\/p>\n From federal immigration agents behaving as an unchecked paramilitary force to a president more concerned with building self-aggrandizing monuments than addressing soaring gas and grocery prices, Trump 2.0 has been exponentially worse than the first Trump term. <\/p>\n In fact, the Knicks probably would have declined and moved on already if not for James Dolan, the team\u2019s owner. He\u2019s a longtime Trump pal, a billionaire who backs ICE and data centers, and a surveillance network fanatic<\/a> just like the president. Dolan would probably like nothing more than to curry favor with Trump by bringing his team to the White House.<\/p>\n But so many of these players represent everything Trump despises, especially racial and ethnic diversity. For example, OG Anunoby, who made The Tip-In Heard \u2018Round The World<\/a> in Game 4 of the Finals, was born in London, the son of Nigerian immigrants. Karl-Anthony Towns\u2019s mother was Dominican and his father is Black. Jose Alvarado is of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent. Their head coach, Mike Brown, is Black. <\/p>\n Trump craves the optics of surrounding himself with his hometown team (though most of his fellow New Yorkers really dislike him<\/a>), and using Black and brown men as cover for policies that overwhelmingly target and harm Black and brown people.<\/a><\/p>\n The Knicks shouldn\u2019t hand him the PR coup. And they should be wary of the \u201cTrump curse,\u201d<\/a> which seems to have befallen several athletes and teams Trump embraces. In May, Jaxson Dart<\/a>, the New York Giants quarterback, introduced Trump at a rally. Last month, he suffered a season-ending knee injury. In July, Trump pressured FIFA, international soccer\u2019s governing body, to overturn a red card suspension of Folarin Balogun, Team USA\u2019s best player in the World Cup. The team lost its next match, which ended its tournament run.<\/p>\n This month, for the first time since 1973 \u2014 when Trump garnered his first headlines<\/a> after he was sued by the Department of Justice for refusing to rent apartments to Black people \u2014 the Knicks will start their season as defending champions. That still-unaccepted invitation could become a distraction when it shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n