Trump booed at Knicks-Spurs game at Madison Square Garden

President Donald Trump was loudly booed at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Monday night before the start of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the home team Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs.

The violent booing began when Trump was shown on the Jumbotron with Knicks owner James Dolan as the national anthem played in Dolan’s suite above the court.

The chants turned into chants as the Jumbotron’s focus turned to Knicks star Jalen Brunson standing on the court. The Knicks, who had not won an NBA championship since 1973, entered the match ahead 2-0 against the Spurs.

Trump’s attendance at the game resulted in a wait of two hours or more for ticket-holding fans to enter the famed arena in Midtown Manhattan after security screening. He is the first US president to attend the NBA Finals.

The president’s motorcade passed signs reading “Nobody wants you here” and “Trump must go” as it made its way through lower Manhattan toward FDR Drive and the Garden.

The other two signs read: “Remove. Convict. Remove.”

When the motorcade pulled into the Garden, people standing along the street booed him while others waved American flags.

Along with Trump in the suite were his grandson Kai Trump, 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 butler and former criminal defendant Walt Nauta.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was sitting courtside.

Also at the game were New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and celebrities like film director and Knicks superfans Spike Lee and Ben Stiller, actor Timothée Chalamet and “Law & Order” co-stars Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni.

Trump, a Queens native who first gained fame as a brash real estate developer in Manhattan, is now unpopular in heavily Democratic New York City.

inside 2024 presidential electionRepublican Trump received fewer than 839,000 votes in the city, while then-vice presidential Democratic candidate Kamala Harris received more than 1.9 million votes.

Last week’s news that Trump planned to attend Game 3 was met with ridicule by some Knicks fans; Fans worried that his presence would disrupt the team’s rhythm during the second-longest undefeated playoff run in NBA history.

This unhappiness was compounded when watch parties in the area around MSG were canceled due to Trump’s presence.

“Why does Donald Trump always have to ruin a good thing?” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House’s top Democrat, said on CNN on Friday.

“The Knicks haven’t been to the NBA Finals in 27 years, the city is trying to celebrate, we’ve embraced this team and this guy needs to inject himself with something,” Jeffries said.

However, speaking to ESPN’s “Inside The NBA” program before the game, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Trump was “delighted to be here.”

“What makes sports so special, especially when there’s so much going on?” [that] Silver: “Is it what we have in common that divides people?” he said. ESPN.

“And we must look for our commonalities and develop them,” the commissioner said.