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Trump Jr. Dunks On Hochul Over Her POTUS Knicks Swipe

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Donald Trump Jr.
Photo Credit: "Donald Trump, Jr." by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Kathy Hochul tried to clown President Donald Trump over his claim that he is a “lifelong Knicks fan,” but the joke blew up in her face after she invoked a Knicks championship team that never existed — and Donald Trump Jr. pounced.

The exchange started at Hochul’s Wednesday press conference, when a reporter asked what she made of Trump saying he wanted to head to Madison Square Garden to watch his hometown team.

“What do you say to President Trump saying he’s a lifelong Knicks fan?” the reporter asked.

“I’d ask him to name the starting lineup of the 1993 Championship team and see how he does,” Hochul replied.

That line immediately created a problem for the New York governor. The Knicks did not win the NBA title in 1993 and did not even play in that year’s Finals.

The 1993 championship series featured Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns. New York’s last NBA title came in 1973, and the franchise did not return to the Finals until 1999… until this year.

Trump’s eldest son wasted no time jumping on the mistake. “Anyone who knows my father knows he probably knows more about Sports than just about any human being not in the business,” Donald Jr. wrote on X.

“Kathy’s failed soundbite ain’t gonna land well… just like her policies.”

Hochul’s team answered with a shot of its own, bringing up Trump’s absence from Donald Jr.’s wedding in the Bahamas the previous weekend.

“Crazy [President Trump] has time to go [to] a basketball game but not your wedding,” Hochul’s press team replied.

Donald Jr. had married Bettina Anderson, a 39-year-old socialite and model from an influential Palm Beach banking family, but the president did not attend the ceremony.

The whole fight grew out of Trump’s own excitement about the Knicks’ run and his public talk about going to the Finals after receiving invitations from several people, including Knicks owner Jim Dolan.

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“I was invited to,” Trump said. “I was going to go on Wednesday, but they closed it out very quickly. Jim Dolan’s a great guy — he’s, as you know, owns and in charge of Madison Square Garden. He’s having a good year. Boy, what a team. They win all their games. They have some great players.”

Trump added, “I think I’ll be going to one of the games. I was invited by numerous people, and Jim.”

If he shows up, he would become the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NBA Finals game.

The Knicks flare-up quickly spilled into a broader political fight that had already been simmering between Trump and Hochul.

At a rally last week for Rep. Mike Lawler, Trump publicly warned the governor that she had a real fight on her hands.

“No Republican wins in Nassau,” Trump said, pointing to a Republican victory in Nassau County. “And he ran, and he won. You better watch yourself, Kathy. You’ve got a race. You’ve got a big race.”

Hochul answered with a short post of her own. “Game on.”

She then added, “I won’t be intimidated by Trump — or any spineless MAGA coward like my opponent Bruce Blakeman. While they’re busy screwing over New Yorkers, I’m fighting like hell to lower costs and protect New Yorkers from his attacks.”

That made her Knicks miss even more awkward, because it came while she was trying to land a clean sports-themed jab and wound up handing Trump’s camp an opening instead.

The president responded with an AI generated image of himself in a Knicks’s uniform dunking over a sweaty, frazzled looking Hochul, who he referred to in the post as “New York’s failed Governor.

“If people were smart, [they] will vote for Bruce Blakeman – He will, MAKE NEW YORK GREAT AGAIN,” Trump added.

The back-and-forth over basketball did not stop with Hochul. Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also caught heat Wednesday after posting a photo of himself in a Knicks hat.

He appeared to be celebrating the Knicks reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years, but the image drew ridicule because many online critics believed the photo had been altered to smooth some of the 55-year-old’s wrinkles and change the shape of his face to make him look younger, according to the New York Post.

National Republican Senatorial Committee aide Sarah Gallagher accused Jeffries of having “facetuned” himself.

Former White House communications director and GOP consultant Alex Pfeiffer also mocked the image, writing, “Hakeem Jeffries looks like a JV baseball coach going through marital troubles.”

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani was dragged into the Finals chatter, too, though he made clear he did not plan to treat a possible Trump appearance like some kind of joint outing.

The 34-year-old said Thursday he was still “figuring out” whether he would attend the NBA Finals, but added that if he did go, he would not be going with the president.

“If the president went to a game, that’s his decision to make. If I go to the game, I’ll be doing so separately,” Mamdani told TMZ.

He repeated the point at a press conference. “If the president comes to watch the Knicks, I’ll leave the president to watch the Knicks as he wants to watch the Knicks.”

Mamdani also declined to guess how New Yorkers might react if Trump walked into the Garden.

“New Yorkers, we are an unpredictable people. I think I’d make a fool of myself if I wanted to make a prediction,” he told TMZ.

He likewise passed on questioning Trump’s status as a Knicks fan. “I’m not going to do any analysis of the president’s fandom,” Mamdani said, according to ABC.

“I will say that anyone who wants to come and watch the Knicks… should be welcome there. I can tell you that it feels like the thing that’s on everybody’s mind across the five boroughs and we’re incredibly excited.”

Mamdani said he planned to watch the Finals even if he was “not sure” whether he would make it to the Garden, and joked that his administration was “looking into an executive order to let the kids stay up late.”

He had already been part of the postseason scene during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, when he sat in the nosebleeds as the Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers on the way to a sweep.

His sports appearances have not always gone over smoothly. Mamdani was blamed by some fans for cursing the Mets after a visit to Citi Field on April 9, where he was seen hugging Mr. and Mrs. Met before the club spiraled into a 12-game losing streak.

Mamdani leaned into the superstition when asked about it. “I will accept being addressed as Mayor Mambino for the day,” he said.

“There’s a lot of baseball to be played,” he added. “I’m still keeping the faith, as I know that many Mets fans are across the city.”

After the Mets finally snapped the skid 13 games later, Mamdani posted, “LGM.”

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