NBA 2023 Champion Nuggets To Miss White House Visit But Why?
Due to their aspirations to become the first seed in the Western Conference, the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets will no longer be invited to the White House to celebrate their victory.
NBA 2023 Champion Nuggets To Miss White House Visit But Why?
Due to a scheduling difficulty, the Biden administration rescheduled the Nuggets’ intended late-January visit to the White House for March 18, as reporter Chris Haynes revealed during Thursday’s TNT broadcast.
But the fact that the Nuggets were scheduled to play the current top-seeded Timberwolves on the road the next night allegedly made them “concerned.”
Charles Barkley addresses the Denver Nuggets' White House trip being canceled due to a scheduling conflict pic.twitter.com/eRxh7LaJ3s
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 8, 2024
Haynes highlighted that the squad wasn’t quitting for political reasons; rather, it was a “basketball decision.”
Given that the Nuggets have historically benefited greatly from home court advantage—partially because they are better used to the mile-high Denver air—it seems natural that they would be particularly driven to contend for the top seed.
“Just last week I was informed that the Nuggets were concerned now because all of a sudden, after March 18, on March 19, they play the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minnesota, and now that game is a little bit more important than they had expected when they did reschedule,” Haynes said Thursday night. “The Nuggets made a tough decision, but they’re canceling that trip to the White House. … I want to make this clear, it was clearly a basketball decision.”
Locked in: The Nuggets are cancelling their visit to the White House on March 18th to focus on being fully rested and ready to play the No. 1 seed Timberwolves on March 19th.
(via @ChrisBHaynes) pic.twitter.com/h4nOWCH8eT
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) March 8, 2024
Haynes stressed that both the Biden administration and the Nuggets intended for the visit to succeed, it didn’t this time.
With a 43-19 record as of Thursday, the Timberwolves are ranked first, while the Nuggets are only one game behind in third place.
Nevertheless, Charles Barkley mocked the Nuggets for using this reasoning to duck the visit.
"The Denver Nuggets are prioritizing that No. 1 seed… They were supposed to go visit the White House in late January… They're canceling that trip [on March 18] to prioritize that Timberwolves game on March 19."
– @ChrisBHaynespic.twitter.com/RuIbmuXYbz
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 8, 2024
“Are they flying Southwest or something?” Barkley asked sarcastically on TNT, as covered by Awful Announcing. “Come on, man. I actually have a problem with this whole thing that’s happened in sports the last few years, not just now. It’s an honor and a privilege to go to the White House. It shouldn’t matter who’s in the White House. It’s an honor and a privilege to go to the White House. You should always go. But these guys act like they’re flying Southwest.”
Why the NBA champion Nuggets are skipping their White House visit https://t.co/P9jLhzOKtl pic.twitter.com/IwC9ZSNJ83
— New York Post (@nypost) March 8, 2024
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