President Trump was noticed saluting the flag at a closely secured Madison Sq. Backyard Monday night time to look at his hometown workforce, the New York Knicks, tackle the San Antonio Spurs in Sport 3 of the NBA Finals.
Trump’s look on the Mecca marks the primary time a sitting president has attended an NBA Finals sport.
The president, sitting in an MSG suite, was booed by Knicks trustworthy when he was proven on the jumbotron through the Nationwide Anthem.
He attended as a visitor of Knicks proprietor James Dolan and was seen with EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, Deputy Chief of Employees Dan Scavino, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Particular Envoy to the Center East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner within the suite.
The sport is the primary NBA Finals on the Knicks’ house court docket in 27 years. The Knicks, up 2-0 within the best-of-seven sequence, are trying to safe their first NBA championship since 1973.
New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a bunch of celebrities — together with Ben Stiller, Spike Lee, Timothee Chalamet, Dave Chappelle, Larry David and Pete Davidson — had been additionally on the sport, although not sitting close to Trump.
Raucous watch events beforehand held outdoors MSG through the Knicks’ playoff run had been moved to different elements of the town for Sport 3, because the Secret Service and the NYPD arrange a multi-block safety perimeter across the enviornment forward of Trump’s arrival.
A strict no-bags coverage for followers attending the sport was introduced forward of Trump’s go to, and Secret Service screened anybody coming into the world with TSA-style magnetometers.
Lengthy strains wrapped across the constructing hours earlier than tip-off.
Trump, a large sports activities fan, has attended a number of main sporting occasions because the begin of his second time period, together with Tremendous Bowl LIX in New Orleans, the School Soccer Playoff Nationwide Championship in Miami, the boys’s US Open tennis closing in Queens and the Daytona 500 auto race in Florida.
The president informed The Put up final month that he has been enthralled by the Knicks’ playoff run.
“I used to be going to go [to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals], however they closed it out in a short time. They’re nice, and Jim Dolan’s an incredible man — he’s, as you realize, owns and accountable for Madison Sq. Backyard. He’s having a superb 12 months,” Trump mentioned on Might 27.
“Boy, what a workforce! They win all their video games,” he mentioned of the Knicks. “They actually have some nice gamers.”
Trump added, “The Knicks have actually, they’ve actually suffered for years and so they’re doing proper now very nicely.”
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), nonetheless, charged that Trump isn’t as large a Knicks fan as he’s.
“It additionally shouldn’t be clear to me that Donald Trump is an enormous Knicks fan. I imply does this man even know the distinction between Karl Rove and Karl-Anthony Cities? I don’t assume so,” the Brooklyn Democrat mentioned at a Capitol Hill press convention, whereas carrying a Knicks hat.
“He’s simply injecting himself into the NBA Finals as a result of he at all times has to deliver the MAGA circus into city and that’s unlucky,” Jeffries argued.
In the meantime, Knicks heart Mitchell Robinson mentioned it was “cool” that Trump could be attending the sport, however his workforce would “nonetheless get on the market and play [no matter] who’s right here and who’s not.”
