Barack Obama recently delivered a savage shot at the expense of the New York Knicks, and Tom Thibodeau has taken it all in stride. In fact, the first-year Knicks head coach hopes to turn the former president — and huge basketball fan — into a supporter of the team despite the vicious troll job.
Obama sat down for an interview this week for the “Desus & Mero” program, during which he made note of how he saw embarrassing footage of the hosts on the basketball court with Sen. Cory Booker.
“Let me just say that I saw some of the footage of y’all with Booker,” Obama says in a preview clip of the episode set to air Sunday. “I’m just saying, here’s the good news: Looks like y’all could play for the Knicks.”
The substance of Obama’s slight was arguably legitimate given the Knicks have long been one of the most dysfunctional franchises in all of sports. That said, Obama was a huge fan of Thibs when he served as head coach of the Bulls, his favorite NBA team.
Thibodeau was asked this week about Obama’s slight, and the veteran coach opted to take the high road.
“Obviously he’s a great president, a big Bulls fan, and so I’ve always enjoyed him,’’ Thibodeau said when asked by The Post if he was surprised at Obama’s crack. “I thought he did a great job as president and we’re going to have to work on making him a Knicks fan, that’s all. All our players in the league have great respect for him. So we’re going to work on getting him to shift from being a Bulls fan to being a Knicks fan.”
It merits noting that the Obama family does have a history with the Knicks organization. Obama’s brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, previously served as the team’s vice president of player development and G League operations. However, he left the Knicks this past summer to take a position as executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches amid the franchise’s front office overhaul.
All that being said, it’s highly unlikely that Obama will switch allegiances from his beloved Bulls to the Knicks, even with Thibodeau’s presence. Maybe Thibs should just hope that Obama tones down the brutal anti-Knicks rhetoric in the future.
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