What did Donald Trump do today?
He saw a basketball game, disrupting thousands of actual fans inside and outside the arena.
Trump traveled to New York this evening to see the Knicks play the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the NBA finals. It's the first time the Knicks have been in the finals in 27 years, and their stampede through the playoffs has been a major cultural event in the city.
Trump is not a fan of the sport. He attended at the invitation of the team's owner, James Dolan, who like Trump is an heir to a billion-dollar New York fortune. The sport isn't a fan of him, either: he's routinely picked fights with the sport's predominantly Black superstars, and said that players being allowed to take part in Black Lives Matter protests was "gonna destroy the league." (It did not.)
That lack of respect showed in the reaction he got tonight. He was booed on his way into the arena:
New Yorkers welcome Trump's motorcade with a chorus of BOOS. Lots of great signs too 😂
— TofuNYC 🏳️🌈🗽🇺🇦 🇬🇱🚫👑🖕🧊 (@groguspeak.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 7:12 PM
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He was loudly booed during the playing of the National Anthem:
Trump, shown on camera during the national anthem, is booed loudly at MSG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 8, 2026 at 7:40 PM
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During the national anthem, President Donald Trump was booed by the Game 3 crowd at MSG.
— The Athletic (@theathletic.com) June 8, 2026 at 7:47 PM
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And in spite of some ticket prices in the arena exceeding $50,000—a substantial fraction of what it would cost to buy access to Trump himself—he was roundly booed each time his face appeared on arena screens.
Part of the reason for that reaction is simply that Trump is extremely unpopular in New York, where he got about 25% of the vote in 2024, meaning he is less popular in the city of his birth than Kamala Harris is in Wyoming.
But Trump's visit also added more than two hours of wait time for each attendee.
Worse, Trump's security requirements forced the cancellation of a watch party outside the Garden that thousands of fans were expected to attend. The gathering had been organized and approved by the office of NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was also in attendance—though in a "cheap seat" he bought for himself.
Dolan had tried to deny that the cancellation of the watch party was due to Trump, but the NYPD immediately released a statement confirming that the Secret Service required it due to Trump's visit, and that the watch party would resume during Game 4 when Trump was not present.
Trump's appearance is also crushing the hopes of businesses near the Garden for some windfall profits: only ticketholders were allowed inside a fifteen-block zone, while pedestrian and vehicular traffic was banned.
San Antonio won by a score of 115-111. It was the Knicks' first loss since April 23. Trump didn't seem very interested in the game he disrupted: in spite of deafening crowd noise, he nodded off for part of it.
Trump takes a long blink during the NBA Finals
— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) June 8, 2026 at 9:00 PM
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Trump left with the game still close in the 4th quarter.
Why does this matter?
- The White House gets ABC.