Even if the Raptors were invited to visit President Donald Trump at the White house, Raptors' Danny Green doesn't think the team would accept the invitation.
After helping Toronto win its first NBA title in franchise history, Green was pressed during an appearance on Yahoo Sports' "Inside The Green Room" about whether he would make the trip to the White House if the Raptors were to be invited.
"I just don't think that we accept," Green said. "And I try to respect everybody in every field that they do regardless of how crazy things are. But he makes it really hard. He makes it very, very tough to respect how he goes about things and does things.
"To put it politely, I think it's a hard no."
Raptors to the White House?
— Yahoo Sports Canada (@YahooCASports) June 22, 2019
"To put it politely, I think it's a hard no." - @DGreen_14 pic.twitter.com/do6vyQa7O7
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau already has extended an invite to the Raptors to visit Parliament Hill in Ottawa, though the details are still being worked out.
Trudeau, who was in Washington earlier this week, asked Trump about inviting the Raptors to the White House.
"We thought about that. That's an interesting question," Trump said (per USA Today). "... That was a great job by a great team, so we'll think about that. If they'd like to do it, we'll think about that."
Green added: "I'm sure he's going to take his invite back now. If we do decide, he's going to be like, 'Well, I didn't invite them anyway.' That's fine."
There is precedent for a team from Canada celebrating in Washington, D.C. after taking home a title in their respective league. The Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series in 1992 and visited with President George H. W. Bush that December. The Blue Jays, however, repeated as champions one year later and did not travel to the United States capital.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri hinted the team was unlikely to visit the White House during Trump's presidency at a press conference in 2017.
"When we win a championship, we’ll deal with that issue,” Ujiri said at the time. “I think we get to go to two White Houses, right? If we win a championship, hopefully one day, I think we’ll be fine with Trudeau.”