Joe Biden returned to the tradition by welcoming NBA champion the Milwaukee Bucks to the White House on Monday, the first NBA team to be invited by the US presidency in almost five years.
“It’s great and it’s an honor to be a part of the tradition, it’s really cool,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said during the meeting with Joe Biden, which took away from the tumultuous relationship between his predecessor Donald Trump and the NBA.
Under the Trump era, basketball players chose not to attend ceremonies in honor of the winners of the American championship to protest against the Republican’s policy towards ethnic minorities, accusing him in particular of undermining the civil rights of the black American community.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were the last NBA champions to come to the White House, under the presidency of Barack Obama.
On Monday, Milwaukee players and coaches met Democrat Biden, who particularly praised Donte DiVincenzo, like him from Delaware.
“He won two state championships there,” Biden said. “So he’s used to that sort of thing.”
AFP
DiVincenzo was delighted with an experience that will leave him with lasting memories.
“It’s a once in a lifetime chance,” said DiVincenzo, “it was an honor, firstly to see someone from Delaware as president and secondly to be here with the team, to win a championship, to be here to celebrate it ”.
Joe Biden also hailed the rise of Giannis Antetokounmpo, top scorer for the Bucks, from poverty in Greece, where he shared a pair of shoes with his brother, to the fulfillment of the American dream.
“I was a little moved”, reacted Antetokounmpo, “I know how (my family) sacrificed themselves, because it does not go back to eight years, it goes back a long way, since I was a child”.
.
