When Donald Trump was in office, not a single NBA team wanted to go visit him. In the past, it has always been a tradition for the championship-winning team in any sport to go visit the President at the White House and get their pictures taken. Whether it be the Clinton, Bush, or Obama administrations, we always saw NBA players make the visit to DC and it always turned out to be a joyous occasion. Due to Trump's policies, many NBA players felt it was necessary to step away from the tradition.
After the Lakers won the championship in October, there was speculation as to whether the team would visit President Biden once he took office. In fact, LeBron stated he was down to go to the White House and would be eager to make it happen. Unfortunately, according to ESPN, it simply isn't going to happen this year.
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As a direct result of scheduling conflicts and COVID-19 protocols, the Lakers simply won't be able to go to the White House. The team is set to visit DC for their upcoming game against the Washington Wizards, and that's when the visit was supposed to take place. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made it so that it won't be possible for the team to do it this year, which is disappointing considering this was the first opportunity for an NBA team to go to the White House, since 2016.
Perhaps next year the NBA's championship-winning team will be luckier, especially as the pandemic begins to subside.
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