Trump Attends Knicks’ NBA Finals Game, First President in Championship Series History

By Mark Schulte
Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Between 1971 and 1974, this writer—a native New Yorker—was a professional basketball player in Sweden, Israel, and Switzerland. During the off-season, I played pickup games with New York Knicks legends Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and Dean “The Dream” Meminger.

The Knicks have captured NBA championships in 1970, 1973, and this year (2026). Since 2017, I have largely stepped away from the league as a fan due to the vitriolic criticism directed at President Donald Trump by players and coaches, including Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, and Gregg Popovich.

In September 2017, James—who campaigned unsuccessfully for Hillary Clinton in 2016—tweeted: “U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!”

President Trump made his historic appearance at Madison Square Garden on June 8, 2026, for Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and San Antonio Spurs—the first U.S. president to attend an NBA championship series game.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that Trump “before he ever ran for office was a big Knicks fan.”

Meanwhile, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader, recently stated during a CNN interview that it “is not clear to me that Donald Trump is a big Knicks fan” and that the president “always has to bring his MAGA circus into town.”

James Dolan, the longtime owner of the Knicks and Madison Square Garden, deserves praise for preventing what he called “Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)” from affecting this year’s championship team. Dolan also rented MSG to Trump in late October 2024 for a sold-out campaign rally.

Similarly, in March 2024, former President Joe Biden held a campaign fundraiser with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at Radio City Music Hall, another property owned by Dolan.

An MSG spokesperson stated: “As a business, we are neutral in political matters. We rent to either side. We don’t censor artists, performers or speakers.”

Few American billionaires have demonstrated this commitment to protecting First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom of the press, and peaceful assembly over the past decade.

The 2026 NBA Finals drew the highest viewership in the last 28 years at 20.6 million—more than double the 10.3 million from 2025.

During Barack Obama’s presidency (2009–2016), annual viewership ranged between 14.2 million and 20.3 million. In Trump’s first year in office (2017), there were 20.4 million viewers, but by 2019, this had dropped to 15.4 million.

Under President Joe Biden, viewership collapsed to a low of 9.9 million to 12.4 million.

NBA owners, players, and coaches have reportedly adopted Michael Jordan’s 1990 advice: “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”

The Knicks will soon visit the White House for the first time during Trump’s six-year presidency—a milestone that highlights the shift in political dynamics.

NBA champions visited the nation’s capital in each of Obama’s eight years as president and three of four years under Biden.

Mark Schulte is a retired New York City schoolteacher and mathematician who has written extensively on science and the history of science.