Michael Jordan had received a ton of flak for his decision not to visit the White House with the rest of his 1991 championship-winning teammates. In a 1992 interview with Playboy, MJ had claimed he had no intention of revealing why he skipped meeting then-president George H.W. Bush.
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Claiming that he had something else to do, Jordan said the reason why he chose not to attend was personal to him, according to Ball is Life.
“I didn’t want to go. I had something else to do. Before I would have said, ‘Well, I had my reasons.’ I’d do it in a very respectful way. But that’s none of your business.”
Jordan also revealed that he had already informed the Bulls of his intentions. The decision was obviously politically motivated and was unheard of at the time.
Following suit almost three decades later, it was Stephen Curry who did something similar in September 2017. After leading his side to the 2017 Championship, Curry skipped the White House visit and voted against it due to his political beliefs not aligning with then-president Donald Trump.
The 4-time Champion then claimed that the Warriors did not stand for and agree with a lot of the things Trump said and did during his tenure. He also mentioned that the action will hopefully inspire some changes.
“By acting and not going, hopefully that will inspire some change when it comes to what we tolerate in this country, what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye toward.”
“We’re all trying to do what we can using our platforms, using our opportunities to shed light on that. That’s kind of where I stand on that. I don’t think us going to the White House will miraculously make everything better, but this is my opportunity to voice that.”
Curry’s comments resulted in Trump deciding to rescind the invitation a day later. By then, it was clear that the Warriors were on the verge of rejecting it altogether.
The Golden State Warriors were unfazed by President Trump’s rescinding White House invitation
It is not every day that the President of the United States gets into a beef with an NBA franchise. However, that is exactly what happened in September 2017, with Curry’s statement being followed by Trump’s public rescinding of the White House invitation. Trump claimed that Steph’s hesitation was the sole reason behind the decision.
However, the Golden State Warriors still made the trip to the capital city. Instead of a visit to the White House, they released a statement claiming that the visit would be used to celebrate some values that the franchise believed in.
“While we intended to meet as a team at the first opportunity we had this morning to collaboratively discuss a potential visit to the White House, we accept that President Trump has made it clear that we are not invited,” the statement read.
Hence, while the White House trip never occurred, the Warriors did make the trip to Washington, D.C. Still, the incredible saga involved a U-turn on a significant NBA tradition and a Twitter-based beef between the US president and an NBA superstar.
