President Donald Trump is considering attending the NBA finals next week to watch the New York Knicks despite missing his son’s wedding.
Trump reportedly planned a surprise appearance at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday if the Knicks had lost Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.
However, after the team completed a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he is now expected to shift attention to the NBA Finals, according to The New York Times.
Trump’s expected appearance at the game follows his decision to skip his eldest son’s wedding over the weekend.
Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson, who began dating after his split from Kimberly Guilfoyle in late 2024, were married at a private ceremony on a Bahamian island on Saturday in front of close family and friends.
The president’s public schedule initially indicated he would be at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey on Saturday, but Axios reported he remained in Washington instead.
Asked about the wedding on Thursday, Trump suggested he could not attend due to pressing international matters such as his deeply unpopular war in Iran.
“He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it, I’m in the midst—,” Trump said, before adding, “I said, ‘You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things.’”
He added, “That’s one I can’t win on. If I do attend, I get killed. If I don’t attend, I get killed—by the fake news, of course, I’m talking about. But he’s uh, [with] a person I’ve known for a long time and hopefully they’re gonna have a great marriage.”
Trump is currently trying to negotiate a peace deal with Iran to end the war, with the president claiming on Truth Social on Sunday that negotiations with Iran were “proceeding nicely.”
But negotiations are stalling over Trump’s demand that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz and disagreements over Tehran’s nuclear program and demands for financial relief.
Still, Trump appears to have time for courtside appearances with his favorite basketball team.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
This would not be the first time Trump has appeared at a major sporting event while in office. Last year, he attended several high-profile competitions, including the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the U.S. Open men’s final, and a New York Yankees game.
By contrast, most modern presidents have only occasionally attended major sporting events.
Trump has even gone further in embracing combat sports, with plans underway to construct an octagonal fighting cage on the White House South Lawn for a UFC event scheduled to coincide with his birthday next month.
He also maintains close ties with sports figures such as UFC president Dana White and New York Knicks owner James Dolan, who has long supported his political campaigns, and even got married at Mar-a-Lago.
