Trump booed at Knicks-Spurs game at Madison Square Garden
President Donald Trump attends Game Three of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 8, 2026.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump was loudly booed at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Monday night before the start of game three of the NBA Finals between the home team Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs.
The thunderous boos began when Trump was shown on the Jumbotron with Knicks owner James Dolan in Dolan’s suite above the court during the playing of the National Anthem. Trump was saluting during the anthem.
The boos turned to cheers when the Jumbotron’s focus turned to Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who was shown standing on the court.
Trump’s attendance at the game caused waits of two hours or more for ticket-holding fans to enter the famed arena in Midtown Manhattan after security screening. He is the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NBA Finals.
The president’s motorcade passed signs that read “Nobody wants you here” and “Trump must go,” as it moved from lower Manhattan up the FDR Drive and over to the Garden.
Two other signs “Impeach. Convict. Remove.”
When the motorcade pulled up to the Garden, people standing along the street booed it, while others waved American flags.
With Trump in the suite were his granddaughter Kai Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and his valet and former fellow criminal case defendant Walt Nauta.
A native of Queens who first gained fame as a brash Manhattan real estate developer, Trump is deeply unpopular in heavily Democratic New York City.
Out of about 666,600 votes in the 2024 presidential election cast in the city, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris won nearly 534,000 votes compared to fewer than 114,000 for Trump.
But NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, speaking to ESPN’s “Inside The NBA” before the game, said Trump is “welcome to be here.”
“I think that what makes sports so special, especially when there’s so much [that] divides people, is it’s something that we have in common,” Silver said, according to ESPN.
“And we should look for those things that we have in common and build off that,” the commissioner said.