For the first time in 53 years — and for the first time in many of our lifetimes — the New York Knickerbockers are world champions.
They achieved the ultimate goal in sports and now stand alone atop basketball’s Mount Olympus.
This gritty, ridiculously talented, never-say-die bunch won 13 straight playoff games, tying an NBA record before finally stumbling at home against San Antonio in a game remembered almost as much for the chaos outside Madison Square Garden as for what happened on the court. Depending on who you ask, the culprit was poor defense, bad luck — or the appearance of a certain individualwhom superstitious fans have since blamed for jinxing the team.
Hexes aside, no sooner had the Knicks hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy than speculation began swirling about a visit to the White House.
Within minutes of the buzzer, I posted:
“Congrats @NYKnicks! Please don’t ruin it by visiting the White Supremacist House!”
Then I waited.
Because we all knew this moment was coming.
Because our president has to make moments like this about him.
And now it’s here. And so is the reckoning. For a team. For a city. For a country.
The Knicks are facing a decision that extends far beyond basketball.
On one side sits tradition: championship teams have long been invited to the White House regardless of who occupies it. On the other sits conscience: the reality that the majority of Americans view the current administration as, to put it mildly, fundamentally at odds with the values they, as well as our founding fathers, hold dear.
Complicating matters further is the fact that the Knicks are owned by a man who has been an outspoken supporter of a president whose behavior seems to embody the opposite of the qualities we associate with champions: humility, character, grace, and dignity.
Which raises the question:
What does a championship team owe tradition when tradition collides with principle? And duty?
Because whether they accept the invitation or decline it, the decision will resonate far beyond Madison Square Garden. Especially when you consider that no NBA championship team has visited the White House during the Trump era. If nothing else, should they go, the Knicks would be breaking a decade-long streak.
For whatever reason, the NBA has been the exception. Across most of the sports world—professional and collegiate alike—teams from The Dodgers to The Panthers to The Hoosiers, and many more, have eagerly accepted invitations to this White House. Whether it’s a desire to honor tradition, avoid controversy, or simply enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the result is the same: a photo opportunity that inevitably becomes political.
For those who view this administration as morally bankrupt, those images carry a different message. They signal acceptance. Endorsement. Normalization.
To them, these athletes’ willingness to break bread with this poor excuse for a president also confirms a sad truth: that these role models apparently have no issue with the message they’re sending to the kids who idolize them — “being a bully is not only okay, it can lead to the White House.”
Take the recent example of the U.S. men’s hockey team. Fresh off an incredible Olympic victory, several players found themselves embroiled in controversy after laughing at remarks many viewed as misogynistic and disrespectful toward the women’s team. What should have been a moment of pure celebration instantly became something else. Forever.
That’s the risk.
A single visit to shake this toxic man’s hand can alter the conversation around an achievement forever. Is it worth it, New York?
Let’s face it, Donald Trump is the kind of guy to whom, if you gave him a plastic replica of the Larry O’Brien trophy, would go around telling everyone he won the NBA championship, too.
Perhaps Knicks owner James Dolan supports a man like Trump because both men have one thing in common: They are the epitome of fragile, petty, power-hungry billionaires.
After all, like Mr. Trump, Mr. Dolan’s desire for total control has been well documented; be it his countless lawsuits against anything and anyone who challenges him, or banning Knick fans from the Garden simply for shouting “Sell the team!” Going as far as to install facial recognition security cameras to keep the undesirables out. Heck, a friend of mine who’s a well-known sports writer told me he can’t write anything ‘bad’ about the Knicks because Dolan keeps a ‘hit list’ of his enemies and will subsequently ban him from all MSG events, permanently. Sound familiar?
Donald Trump is a man whose blatant racism has been on full display going back decades. Whether it was discriminating against Black tenants in the ’70s, calling for the execution of the Central Park Five in the ’80s — and refusing to apologize when they were acquitted, or the now infamous “Good people on both sides” vitriol. We’re now supposed to believe this man gives a damn about these players? About the city that booed him into oblivion less than two weeks ago?
Looking at it from another angle, should the Knicks have lost, which response do you think would’ve been more likely to come from this president?
“We’ll get ‘em next year, boys! You fought the good fight! Be proud!”
Or
“Just like their weak mayor, the Knicks are losers. They couldn’t handle the pressure and they choked. Pathetic. And have you seen Jalen Brunson’s wife? Is she a man?”
Men like James Dolan and Donald Trump represent the antitheses of what champions are made of. Both were gifted their companies by their fathers, both have demonstrated rancid pettiness and cruelty throughout their lives, and both refuse to lose with grace and dignity. After all, one of them is still trying to redo the 2020 election.
The Knicks’ championship belongs to New York. It belongs to the fans who waited more than half a century for this moment. It belongs to the players who sacrificed, bled, and battled to bring a title back to the Garden. It definitely does not belong to either of these men who have a knack for making everything all about them.
Incidentally, you could even say the Knicks won in spite of James Dolan, as he’s had complete control of the team for 27 years, yet only has one title to show for it.
The question now is, not whether a trip to Washington enhances that legacy or distracts from it. It’s how bad will it tarnish this incredible decades-in-the-making victory?
Because once that photograph is taken, it doesn’t just become part of the story. It becomes the story.
Forever.
And the world is watching.
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