Politics

NBA, NCAA champs will skip White House visit after Trump attacks

Championship teams in both the NBA and the NCAA said Saturday they will not be visiting President Trump’s White House to celebrate their victories.

The Golden State Warriors said Trump made the decision for them when he disinvited their all-world guard Stephen Curry earlier in the day.

And North Carolina’s 2017 national championship Tar Heels will also not show up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a team spokesman said on Saturday, the News & Observer reported.

“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 Warriors said in a statement.

“We believe there is nothing more American than our citizens having the right to express themselves freely on matters important to them. We’re disappointed that we did not have an opportunity during this process to share our views or have open dialogue on issues impacting our communities that we felt would be important to raise,” said the squad, who squashed the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-1 in the 2017 NBA Finals.

Two-time NBA MVP Curry said Friday he would vote against the team’s visiting the White House. And on Saturday, Trump fired back, saying Curry wasn’t invited anyway.

“Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!” Trump tweeted Saturday morning.

Warriors brass said the team will still make the trip to D.C.

“In lieu of a visit to the White House, we have decided that we’ll constructively use our trip to the nation’s capital in February to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion — the values that we embrace as an organization.”