{"id":718730,"date":"2026-06-06T09:49:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T09:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718730\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T09:49:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T09:49:24","slug":"adam-silver-thrilled-trump-will-attend-nba-finals-at-madison-square-garden-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718730\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Silver \u2018thrilled\u2019 Trump will attend NBA finals at Madison Square Garden | NBA finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump, a longtime New York Knicks<\/a> fan, said he plans to attend an NBA finals game at Madison Square Garden next week at the invitation of the team\u2019s owner.<\/p>\n

Describing himself as a \u201cbig fan\u201d of the team and owner James Dolan, Trump said Thursday that he will be in the arena for at least one game next week. The NBA believes it would make him the first sitting president to attend an NBA finals<\/a> game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe answer is yes \u2013 he\u2019s invited me, I\u2019m going,\u201d Trump said of Dolan\u2019s invitation. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he was eyeing Game 3 on Monday but didn\u2019t rule out Game 4 on Wednesday. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll do both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, who is simultaneously contending with a war in Iran, strife in Congress and looming midterm elections, said he made sure to catch some of Game 1 on Wednesday as the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> and took a 1-0 lead in the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI missed the middle because I talk to generals all night long now, but I watched that end of the game and they were dominant,\u201d Trump said. \u201cReally amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about his plans for next week, Trump went on to offer his own game recap, giving nothing but praise for the Knicks. Taking questions after an event on his administration\u2019s efforts to promote the US coal industry, Trump said it \u201cwasn\u2019t looking good\u201d for the Knicks early on but commended them for holding back Victor Wembanyama<\/a>, the towering Spurs center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say, how do you guard this guy? He\u2019s 7ft 5in and he\u2019s got a great shot, right? But they find a way to do it. They\u2019re really great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA<\/a> said it believes no other sitting president has attended an NBA finals game. Earlier Thursday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said some former presidents had attended. He recalled Trump as a Knicks fan long before his political career.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump and then-Fox News pundit Bill O\u2019Reilly attend a 2014 game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Photograph: Elsa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump, before he ever ran for office, he was a big Knicks fan,\u201d Silver said. \u201cI was there at many Knicks games with him in the old days. He attended many of our drafts when they used to take place at Madison Square Garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silver reiterated a message he conveyed Wednesday amid reports that Trump might attend \u2013 that sports can be unifying, even in deeply divided political times.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can emphasize what we have in common, not what pulls us apart,\u201d Silver said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing that in New York and I think President Trump is very much a New Yorker, and I\u2019m thrilled that yet another New Yorker wants to participate in the enthusiasm and the joy around this Knick team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commissioner acknowledged that Trump\u2019s presence will require extra security in and around Madison Square Garden. That would almost certainly mean longer transit times and logistical issues for fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the fans are very understanding of that,\u201d Silver said. \u201cI think they recognize that it adds to the bigness of the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump is not expected to be the only prominent political figure at the Garden for the first NBA finals staged at the arena since 1999. New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> has also said he plans to attend Monday\u2019s game, though he suggested there is little chance the two will cross paths.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be in a very different section,\u201d Mamdani said Thursday at an unrelated news conference.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s office said he would be paying his own way for a ticket that was fetching upwards of $8,000 on the secondary market<\/a> as of Thursday afternoon. Trump, meanwhile, said he would be attending as Dolan\u2019s guest, setting up a finals scene that could feature two of New York\u2019s most prominent political figures under one roof.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump, a longtime New York Knicks fan, said he plans to attend an NBA finals game at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-718730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}