It didn’t take the Golden State Warriors long to decide to skip the traditional championship White House visit.
Less than 24 hours after winning the 2017 NBA Finals on Monday night, the Warriors unanimously voted to decline the expected White House invitation, according to several reports including one by CNBC analyst Josh Brown.
Brown deleted the tweet with his report on Tuesday afternoon.
Credit: Josh Brown's Twitter account
Credit: Josh Brown's Twitter account
The Golden State organization addressed the issue Tuesday, saying that "we have not received an invitation to the White House, but will make those decisions when and if necessary' and coach Steve Kerr told ESPN that a decision had not been made.
The news comes the day after Clemson visited the White House in honor of its college football national championship win over Alabama in January.
The Warriors’ rejection of the White House’s invitation builds on the sentiment expressed by several New England Patriots who announced they would not attend the Trump White House ceremony in April. Notable Patriots who missed the April ceremony were Tom Brady— who said he would not attend for personal reasons— Legarrette Blount, Martellus Bennett and Danny Amendola.
Thirty-four Patriots were present for the White House ceremony to honor their Super Bowl 51 win, which was a similar number of attendees when the Patriots won in 2004 and 2005, according to Patriots spokesman Stacey James.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tweeted on Tuesday she would be honored to have the Warriors come to the White House and be honored for their NBA title. Pelosi whose district includes the San Francisco Bay Area.
Veteran forward David West, who has been outspoken in his disapproval of President Donald Trump, told The Undefeated’s Marc Spears that he ‘probably’ will decline the opportunity.
“I don’t know. I probably won’t,” West said.
The Warriors attended the White House ceremony to honor their 2015 NBA Finals win over the Cleveland Cavaliers when former President Barack Obama was in the White House.
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