Jalen Brunson says the Knicks still haven’t had a team conversation about whether they’ll go to the White House, even though owner James Dolan previously said the invitation had already been accepted.
Brunson addressed the topic in a Variety interview released Monday, and his answer made one thing clear: nothing has been settled internally yet.
“That’s something that we actually haven’t discussed as a team," Brunson told Variety. "And so obviously, people are making assumptions and saying everything, but together we haven’t discussed it yet. And so we’ll cross our bridge when we get to it.”
He was also told in the interview that if New York does go, the Knicks would be the first NBA team to visit the White House under Donald Trump’s administration. Brunson’s reaction was brief: "Interesting… Interesting.”
The White House question has been floating around since June, when Dolan said on a radio appearance that the team had already accepted an invitation after beating the Spurs to win its first title in 53 years.
“We just did receive an invitation from the White House, which we accepted," Dolan said, per The Athletic. "We still have to figure out the details.”
The White House later confirmed it had been in contact with the Knicks and said it looked forward to hosting the team “at a date to be determined in the near future," according to The Athletic.
Trump was at Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, watching from a suite alongside Dolan, who has long been tied to the president as a friend and donor to his campaigns.
The idea of a championship team skipping the White House is hardly new. There have been plenty of examples of full teams declining or only partial groups making the trip, usually because of scheduling issues.
During Trump’s first administration, the 2017 Warriors had their invitation withdrawn after Stephen Curry said he wasn’t interested, and they were not invited the next year. The 2017 UNC Tar Heels turned down their visit because of coach Roy Williams’ criticism of the president.
After their Super Bowl wins in 2017 and 2019, the Patriots did go, though several players stayed away, with Tom Brady citing personal reasons. The 2018 Eagles had their invitation revoked by Trump amid the possibility of a boycott from players, and in 2018 three members of the Capitals chose not to attend.
Under Joe Biden, the 2023 Georgia Bulldogs skipped their visit because of scheduling conflicts, and the same thing happened with the NBA’s Denver Nuggets in 2024.
More recently, during Trump’s second administration, 12 Eagles players did not join the rest of the team after their February 2025 Super Bowl win. The WNBA’s New York Liberty were not invited and instead met with former president Barack Obama.
After the 2026 Winter Olympics, the women’s U.S. hockey team declined an invitation for scheduling reasons, while five members of the men’s U.S. hockey team did not attend the team’s White House visit. The Oklahoma City Thunder also passed in March 2026 because of scheduling conflicts, while the Indiana Hoosiers did appear in Washington after their college football title, though quarterback Fernando Mendoza sat it out because of his new obligations to the Las Vegas Raiders.
So far, no NBA champion has attended a White House visit under Trump’s administration. The three most recent NBA title teams to make the trip did so during the Biden years.
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