Warriors visiting D.C. kids instead of White House after Trump's disinvite

Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The Golden State Warriors will visit children in Washington, D.C. instead of going to the White House after being disinvited by President Donald Trump.

League sources informed ESPN and the San Francisco Chronicle of the decision. The sources said the team will go on a "private tour of an undisclosed locale on Feb. 27."

Traditionally, NBA teams visit the White House after winning the NBA Finals. The Warriors did so in 2016, after winning the NBA Finals in 2015. President Barack Obama was in office at the time of that visit.

The Warriors travel to face the New York Knicks on Feb. 26, before going to the U.S. Capitol to face the Washington Wizards on Feb. 28. They will celebrate their 2017 NBA Finals victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the road trip.

Trump said in September that the Warriors' invitation to the White House was "withdrawn."

"Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!" Trump tweeted on Sept. 23.

His tweet came after Curry and Kevin Durant said they did not want to travel to the White House.

"I don't want to go," Curry told reporters in September. "That's kind of the nucleus of my belief...[But] it's not just me going to the White House. If it was, this would be a pretty short conversation."

"That we don't stand for basically what our President has -- the things that he's said and the things that he hasn't said in the right times, that we won't stand for it," Curry said. "And by acting and not going, hopefully that will inspire some change when it comes to what we tolerate in this country and what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye to. It's not just the act of not going there. There are things you have to do on the back end to actually push that message into motion.

"[Athletes are] all trying to do what we can. We're using our platforms, using our opportunities to shed light on that, so that's kind of where I stand on it. I don't think us not going to the White House is going to miraculously make everything better, but this is my opportunity to voice that."

The Warriors had a plan to meet as a team to decide if they would visit the White House. They were expected to vote against the visit. Golden State released a statement after seeing Trump's tweet.

"While we intended to meet as a team at the first opportunity we had this morning to collaboratively discuss a potential visit to the White House, we accept that president Trump has made it clear that we are not invited," the statement said. "We believe there is nothing more American than our citizens having the right to express themselves freely on matters important to them. We're disappointed that we did not have an opportunity during this process to share our views or have open dialogue on issues impacting our communities that we felt would be important to raise."

"In lieu of a visit to the White House, we have decided that we'll constructively use our trip to the nation's capital in February to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion - the values that we embrace as an organization."

Trump has hosted several teams at the White House during his first term, including the Chicago Cubs and the New England Patriots.

The Houston Astros are expected to visit Washington, D.C. in March.