Aces' A'ja Wilson not happy after President Biden lauds Golden Knights on Las Vegas' first 'major' championship
President Joe Biden congratulated the Vegas Golden Knights on their Stanley Cup win Wednesday. In doing so, he found a way to significantly annoy one of the city's other professional sports teams.
The day after the Golden Knights crushed the Florida Panthers in Game 5 to win their first Stanley Cup, Biden did his usual congratulating via his @POTUS Twitter account, just as he did when the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, the Houston Astros won the World Series and the Denver Nuggets won the NBA Finals.
This time, however, Biden referred to the Golden Knights' title as being won by "the first major professional franchise in such a proud American city." Which is inaccurate if you consider the local WNBA team to be one of Las Vegas' major sports franchises.
Congrats to the Vegas @GoldenKnights on their first Stanley Cup in just their sixth season. The first major professional franchise in such a proud American city.
Today, the team and entire community are champions.— President Biden (@POTUS) June 14, 2023
The Las Vegas Aces won their first title in September, an event that went unacknowledged by both the @POTUS and @JoeBiden Twitter accounts.
That led to the Aces' best player, two-time WNBA MVP A'Ja Wilson, calling out the snub and seemingly implying that the Aces never received the traditional invitation to the White House, something the Seattle Storm got to do the previous year.
That Tweet was misunderstood, according to Andy Yamashita of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Aces have been invited to the White House, but the details are reportedly still being finalized.
Twitter not letting me quote tweet potus tweet but …BFFR 😐😐 when is our White House visit cause … pic.twitter.com/o9uc88Qg6U
— A'ja Wilson (@_ajawilson22) June 14, 2023
This isn't the first time a championship-winning female basketball player has been annoyed with the White House. First Lady Jill Biden drew the ire of LSU star Angel Reese after she suggested inviting Iowa, the team LSU beat in the NCAA tournament championship game, to the White House alongside the Tigers.
The White House quickly walked back the comment — and it's not like Iowa was interested in the first place — but it became a question of whether Reese and LSU would visit the Bidens at all.
LSU, with Reese in tow, eventually did make the trip. It seems a similar outcome could unfold in this situation, potentially when the Aces play the Washington Mystics less than 10 miles away from the White House on August 26.