WASHINGTON — The Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA’s reigning champion, will not make the customary White House visit during their road trip to the nation’s capital this weekend, a team spokesperson said.
The organization and the White House had conversations about a celebration of the team’s 2025 title, but a “timing issue” prevented it from happening, that spokesperson said.
“We have been in touch with the White House and we are appreciative and grateful for the communication we have had, but the timing just didn’t work out,” the Thunder said in a statement shared with The Athletic.
Visiting the White House has long been a tradition for NBA championship teams, dating back to 1963, when the Boston Celtics attended following their title the previous season. Teams typically visit when the regular-season schedule brings them to the nation’s capital. The Thunder, who won the OKC franchise’s first title last June by topping the Indiana Pacers in seven games, play the Wizards in Washington on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET.
The Celtics were the last NBA championship team to visit the White House, attending in November 2024 after beating the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals that June. Former President Joe Biden held office then.
The topic of sports teams visiting the White House was often fraught during President Donald Trump’s first term. The Golden State Warriors decided not to visit the White House after winning the NBA championship in 2017 (Trump subsequently tweeted that the invitation was withdrawn). The Warriors were also not invited for a visit when they won another championship in 2018, but they visited the White House to celebrate their 2022 championship during Biden’s presidency.
The men’s college basketball team from North Carolina in 2017 and the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles in 2018 also declined invitations or had invitations revoked after titles in Trump’s first term. Several other champions were not invited at all. In 2023, the college football champion Georgia Bulldogs passed on meeting with Biden.
In 2022, before they were champions, the Thunder visited Biden’s White House for a policy discussion and a screening of a documentary about the team’s after-school program in Tulsa. And with the playoffs less than a month away, the Thunder are in position to potentially repeat as champions, sitting at No. 1 in the Western Conference with a 55-15 record.
Last month, the U.S. men’s hockey team attended the State of the Union, invited by Trump, after winning gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics. The team also attended an event in the Oval Office with Trump and had lunch at the White House.
Trump also invited the gold-medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team to the State of the Union, but the team decided not to attend, citing “the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.”
Trump received heavy criticism for his remarks on the women’s team when he called the men’s team after they beat Canada with a 2-1 overtime win in the gold-medal game. Trump, in a video of the call posted to social media, said that he’d “probably be impeached” if he didn’t invite the women’s team.