New York Knicks super fan Spike Lee is urging the team's players to reject an invitation to the White House.
The last NBA team to visit the White House were the Boston Celtics in 2024, to celebrate their championship success. The Oklahoma City Thunder did not visit after their 2025 win, citing a timing and scheduling issue.
The New York Knicks are yet to decide. Donald Trump was a guest at Madison Square Garden in the NBA Finals, invited by owner James Dolan.
But in an interview with Variety , filmmaker Spike Lee is urging the players not to be forced into a move by Dolan.
He explained: "He can't force them! It's been years since the last NBA team has gone. They're not going. I hope they don't go! I hope they don't go."
Lee was also asked why Ben Stiller was chosen over himself to film the documentary about the New York Knicks title winning team.
He points out that it was purely James Dolan's decision – and points to his questionable decision-making over the White House.
Lee said: "It was Dolan. Dolan gave it to him. Look, it's his team, he can do what he wants to do. Coulda woulda, but it's his team. He also wants his team to go to the White House, too."
His flippant comments over the documentary show that he can shrug off a professional snub, but he is impassioned about the White House issue, and does not want the team to go, and validate Donald Trump in the process.
Knicks fan Ben Stiller landed the huge honor to create a documentary about the team's first NBA title win since 1973.
It is scheduled to be a multi-part documentary, to be screened on HBO. No release date has yet been set.
The documentary will arc back to previous Knicks teams, with Stiller explaining: "It's going to be about all eras of the Knicks, and this team obviously, there's a culmination here, of something that's been going on for a long time. It's super exciting."
