The NBA’s reigning champs, the Dallas Mavericks, will make the customary trip to the White House today to meet the President. But one of the team’s star players won’t be joining them.
Delonte West says he is banned from president’s home.
“I’m banned from going to the White House, so I’m not going to make it,” West said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “But I’m coming home to D.C., I’m just not allowed to go to the White House. That’s what happens when you make bad decisions in your life. You can’t go to the White House.”
One of those bad decisions he is referring to happened right here in the D.C. area. West was pulled over in September 2009 for reckless driving. Then police found he was carrying three loaded guns, one of them a shotgun in a guitar case strapped to his back. West pleaded guilty to weapons and traffic charges stemming from the incident.
The controversy surrounding the trip doesn’t end with West. Outspoken Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has criticized the league for not scheduling a game for his team against the Wizards, which would have made it easier for the Mavericks to visit the President. Instead, Cuban says the team had to make their own arrangements in a season that leaves little time for extra travel.
The NBA responded by saying that even if the Mavericks and Wizards played this year, it wouldn’t guarantee that the president would be in town to meet with the team.
