It was a wild sight at Madison Square Garden on Monday, where the New York Knicks hosted their first finals game in 27 years. As expected, it was a rocking arena that featured a star-studded celebrity guest list.
As one of the most powerful and controversial people in the world right now, his presence was felt through the entire night, and there was a chance he could show up to watch Game 4. Today, however, ESPN’s Shams Charania confirmed that Trump will not be in attendance on Wednesday.
“President Donald Trump will not be attending Game 4 of the Knicks/Spurs NBA Finals on Wednesday night,” reported Shams on NBA Today. “He did say last week that he might go to Game 3 and Game 4, but he will not be attending Game 4. When the Knicks lost Game 3, he was shown on the Jumbotron, and it remains to be seen if he will go to a potential Game 6 if the Knicks are in a clinching position.”
It was the first time a sitting U.S. President had ever attended a Finals game, although it’s questionable how much of it he actually watched. As people quickly noticed, Trump fell asleep during the game, much to the humor of fans and trolls who had a field day with the moment.
Before the game even began, signs of his presence were prevalent. Besides asking the fans to show up two hours early, security was at another level in the arena, rivaling TSA checkpoints at airports. After party events were also restricted, forcing Knicks fans to celebrate elsewhere.
Trump, who was re-elected in 2024, was personally invited to the game by Knicks owner James Dolan. While he’s not regularly tuned in to the NBA, he has seen enough to know what’s going on. He believes in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, and he says the Knicks have what it takes to finish the job.
In the end, while he may not like the direction that the league is going, it’s clear that Trump is as loyal a Knicks fan as they come. He still remembers the decades of misery for the franchise, defined by losing and poor decision-making that only increased frustrations. They were in the gutter for many years, and have only just now started to be a regular contending team.
The result is a city that’s exploding with enthusiasm, ready to burst in the event that they finish the job and finally bring a championship to New York. This is a moment they’ve been waiting years for, and it’s brought a level of intensity to the scene as we’ve never seen before.
As for what we can expect in Game 6, it’s still up in the air. If the series gets that far, it will be the last Knicks home game of the season, and Trump hasn’t yet ruled out an appearance. The emotion and intensity of that showdown would be unprecedented, and not even President Trump would want to miss out. In the end, only time will tell, but it makes no difference for the Knicks, as it’s just one more distraction for them to tune out.