NBA-champion Denver Nuggets pass on visiting Joe Biden’s White House because they’re ‘prioritizing the playoff race’… but Charles Barkley isn’t buying it: ‘You should go, but these guys act like they’re flying Southwest’

The Denver Nuggets will skip the usual visit to the White House by the current NBA champions, but will not make a political statement against the Biden Administration.

Instead, as Chris Haynes, TNT NBA expert reported, Denver is simply focused on securing the top spot for the Western Conference Playoffs. They are currently one game behind the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder with a 43-20 record.

“The Denver Nuggets are prioritizing the No. 1 seed,” Haynes said. “They’re really trying to do everything they can to get to that spot heading into the playoffs.”

The Nuggets were originally supposed to visit the White House in January, but a scheduling conflict with the administration pushed the visit back to March 18 before Denver pulled out entirely this week.

Denver is scheduled to face the second-place Timberwolves on March 19 in Minneapolis.

TNT’s Charles Barkley, however, didn’t buy the excuse.

‘Are they flying southwest or something?’ Barkley joked. ‘Come on man. In fact, I have a problem with all this that has happened in sports in recent years, not just now.

‘It is an honor and a privilege to go to the White House. It shouldn’t matter who is in the White House. It is an honor and a privilege to go to the White House. You should always go. But these guys act like they’re flying southwest.

American professional and college sports teams are traditionally welcomed into the White House after winning their respective championships, but that custom has come under fire in recent years.

Barkley did not buy the Nuggets’ excuse and said it is an honor to go to the White House

Detroit Pistons power forward Rasheed Wallace once said he had ‘no s*** to say’ to then-President George W. Bush before the reigning NBA champions’ visit to the White House in 2005. .

In the end, though, Wallace and Bush shared a nice moment on stage as the 6-foot-11 NBA star introduced his daughter to the POTUS.

Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas skipped his regular visit in 2012 because of his disdain for then-President Barack Obama.

But things really became contentious between the athletes and the White House during the Trump administration.

President Biden receives a jersey as he hosts the Astros to celebrate their 2022 title.

When Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry publicly admitted he didn’t want to go in 2017, Donald Trump rescinded the offer to the team, starting a war of words in the process.

At the time, LeBron James rushed to Curry’s defense on Twitter (now X), writing: ‘Um @StephenCurry30 already said he’s not going! Therefore, there is no invitation. Going to the White House was a great honor until you showed up!

A year later, James told reporters, “No one wants an invitation anyway.”

Things have returned to normal in the Biden years, and regular visits to the White House for the respective league champions resumed — that is, until the Nuggets declined the invitation this week.