It’s a time-honored American tradition for a championship-winning team from our major sports leagues to visit the White House after winning a title. But, time-honored American traditions are falling by the wayside under the reign of President Donald John Trump, so what’s one more, right?
There’s a very thinly sourced rumor swirling around Twitter this morning that, in the midst of spraying each other with champagne, the Warriors players called a team meeting to unanimously vote to not visit the White House. You may see some tweets popping into your feed with pretty big retweet numbers and think there’s some validity to the claim that Golden State will skip the traditional visit, just as many Patriots players did. But these Tweets aren’t credible on their own.
I’d embed those tweets so you could see them, but that’s what those people want. A Twitter bio of one of the people reporting this “news,” calls himself “The world’s top celebrity expert,” but he looks to have zero connection to the NBA. Another is a business blogger with no sports connection, who later says in the comments that he has no sources. The third is a columnist with his own agenda, as well as a tendency to steer the spotlight to himself. Their “reports” have been retweeted and commented on, and sites, such as the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Kansas City Star, have run with it. We’re watching a rumor grow in real time.
Now, the Warriors may not end up going to the White House. In February, Shaun Livingston said he “definitely wouldn’t go” if the Warriors won the title. And David West said this of Trump back in January.
For now, it’s best take reports that Warriors “unanimously decided to boycott the White House” with a grain of salt until a credible reporter who is well sourced within the Warriors organization reports it—someone like Chris Haynes of ESPN.
However, the fact that this is just a rumor did not stop the former White House photographer—who has turned his social media feed into a sharp critique of the Trump White House—from springing into action. After Twitter started lighting up with the idea that the Warriors wouldn’t visit the White House, Pete Souza took to Instagram to troll Trump. He posted this picture of Barack Obama and Warriors star Stephen Curry, who was gladly hanging out with the president at the White House. Rumor or not, it’s safe to assume we won’t see a photo like this of Curry with Trump.