In news that should probably surprise no one, neither the Cleveland Cavaliers nor the Golden State Warriors will accept invitations to visit the White House as this year’s NBA Champions.
Following on from yesterday’s farcical debacle in which President Donald Trump went full “I didn’t want to hang out with you anyway” by rescinding an invitation to the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles amid reports few, if any, of the Eagles were actually keen to go, both LeBron James and Steph Curry have gotten ahead of any bloviating from Trump by asserting their teams will not accept any potential invitation, whether it’s extended or not.
In the lead-up to Game 3 of this year’s NBA Finals series, James fronted media and addressed questions about Trump’s Eagles-related shitfit, a tantrum thrown by the President presumably because taking a photo next to three knuckle-dragging defensive ends from Kansas all named “Wyatt” would not have read well.
James stated firmly that neither the Cavs nor the Warriors would be accepting any Trump invitation, no matter what the circumstances.
I mean, I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants the invite anyway. So it won’t be Golden State or Cleveland going.
LeBron also asserted that it is 100% Trump’s demeanour and actions that put the players off, stating that any championship success is not diminished by a lack of recognition from the White House.
I think as long as he’s in office, then the communication and things like that are going to continue to happen. It’s a lot of things that we believe in as Americans that we don’t feel that he’s for. There are a lot of people that believe that he’s not for the people or doing things that’s right by the people.
I think more importantly, as Americans and especially people in Philadelphia, we shouldn’t let that news take away from what that unbelievable team did and accomplished, what all those players did to sacrifice throughout each and every Sunday, going out and playing the style of football that they played and winning a Super Bowl the way they won it. Let’s not let that accomplishment of things that you will have for the rest of your life, and people will always call you a champion for the rest of your life, let’s not let someone uninviting you to their house take away from that moment.
Because I think the championship — winning a Super Bowl or winning a Stanley Cup or winning a World Series or winning an NBA championship or national championship — is way bigger than getting invited to the White House. Especially with [Trump] in there, in my opinion.
Warriors stars Steph Curry and Kevin Durant echoed these sentiments, which follows on from last year where the then-NBA Champion Warriors had their invite similarly binned by an incensed, Cheetoh dust-stained Trump after Curry suggested he and his teammates weren’t keen on going.
The Eagles had their invite torn up in a sensational, petty display of petulance from the dummy-spitting President, who asserted that the players “disagree with their president because he insists that they proudly stand for the national anthem,” even though no Philadelphia Eagle actually participated in the kneeling protest at any point throughout the year.
Trump has been wrung through the wringer by pro-athletes accusing the President of racial bias and of deliberately portraying them as anti-military; a battle-hardened right-wing tactic to make the issue about literally anything else than what it’s really about.
Game 3 of the NBA Finals tips off at 11:00am Thursday (AUS time).
