Josh Hart Facing Pressure To Skip Knicks' White House Visit
There has been plenty of chatter this week regarding the New York Knicks and their potential visit to the White House.
Knicks owner James Dolan invited President Donald Trump to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 of the NBA Finals. After his team captured its first title since 1973, Dolan received an invite to the White House from the Trump administration.
"We just did receive an invitation from the White House, which we accepted," Dolan said on WFAN this Wednesday. "We still have to figure out the details, et cetera, but yes, of course. Look, I invited the president to come down for the game. He is a friend. I've known him for 30 years and I'm very proud to bring the team to the White House."
While on the "Speakeasy" podcast this Thursday, former NFL star T.J. Houshmandzadeh discussed the Knicks' potential trip to the White House.
Houshmandzadeh claims there's no way Knicks star Josh Hart can visit the White House due to his previous comments about Trump. Back in 2020, Hart celebrated Trump losing the presidential election to Joe Biden.
"Josh Hart isn't going," Houshmandzadeh said. "There's no way you can tweet 'Get Trump's [expletive] out the White House' and then back pedal faster than Deion [Sanders]. There's no way you can tweet that and then have a change of heart. At some point, you got to stand on what you stand on."
Another former NFL star urges the Knicks to visit the White House.
Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason made it clear this week that he wants the Knicks to meet President Trump.
"When does Jim Dolan tell his team that we're going down to visit my good friend Donald Trump in the White House? That's what I can't wait for. And hopefully they all go. Hopefully, they go just like they're doing everything that they're doing here. I would love to see them be honored at the White House, given this is the 250th birthday of our great nation, wouldn't it be wonderful to see the Knicks standing there with a huge Knicks fan who happens to be the president of the United States," Esiason said.
"You go out of respect to the office…I would think that everybody can get over the political nature of all of this. Doing the right thing by the team, which this mayor happens to be doing, I'm all in support of. I have no problem with the New York Knicks going to a socialist mayor and saying, ‘We're the champions, here are the keys,' and the mayor basking in the glow of that championship."
As of this moment, the Knicks haven't set a date for their trip to the White House.
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This story was originally published June 19, 2026 at 4:00 PM.