The Trump family is rallying around the President's basketball bona fides after a political jab from New York's governor fell flat. Donald Trump Jr. took to social media to push back hard against Kathy Hochul, who tried to dunk on the President's Knicks fandom but instead fumbled the ball.
It all started when President Trump revealed plans to catch a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden during the NBA Finals. The Knicks, fresh off a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers, punched their ticket to the championship series for the first time since 1999. Trump told reporters he'd been invited to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, but New York closed it out too quickly. “Jim Dolan, as you know owns and is in charge of Madison Square Garden, is having a great year. What a team! I think I’ll be going to one of their games,” he said.
But when Hochul was asked about the President's Knicks fandom during a press conference, she took a swing that missed the rim. “I’d ask him to name the starting lineup from the 1993 championship team and see how he does,” she told reporters. The problem? The Knicks didn't win the NBA Finals in 1993. They won the Eastern Conference the following year but fell to the Houston Rockets in the championship. Oops.
Enter Donald Trump Jr., who wasn't about to let that mistake slide. In a fiery response on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote: “Anyone who knows my father knows he probably knows more about Sports than just about any human being not in the business. Kathy’s failed soundbite ain’t gonna land well… just like her policies.”
The warning from Trump Jr. was clear: don't test the President's sports knowledge. He didn't stop at defending his father's fandom—he took a shot at Hochul's governance, framing the exchange as yet another example of political theater gone wrong.
This isn't the first time the President's sports connections have made headlines. From his golf courses hosting PGA events to his appearances at major games, Trump has long woven sports into his public persona. The Knicks' surge to the Finals has only amplified that, with some Knicks fans roasting his reported plan to attend the games at MSG. But the Trump camp isn't backing down.
Hochul's gaffe has become a rallying point for Trump supporters, who see it as a classic case of a politician trying to score points and ending up with an airball. The question now is whether she'll welcome the President to the Big Apple when the NBA Finals tip off next week. Given the frosty relationship between the two, don't expect a warm reception.
Meanwhile, the sports world is buzzing about the Knicks' unexpected run and the political drama swirling around it. For Trump Jr., the message is simple: his father's sports IQ is off-limits. And if you're going to take a shot, you better know your history—or risk getting called out on the world's biggest stage.
