The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has become embroiled in controversy this week after Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said women and girls should not have to compete against biological males, sparking widespread debate.
Amid the discussion, a 2022 video of President Donald Trump resurfaced, in which he jokes about what he’d do if he had to coach a women’s basketball team.
Speaking at the America First Policy Institute, Trump joked that he would be the “greatest women’s basketball coach” by asking NBA star LeBron James whether he had any “desire to be a woman.”
The remark was part of his criticism of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
While saying he personally prefers Michael Jordan over James, Trump quipped, I’ll have the greatest team in history. They’ll never lose. Nobody will come within 70 points of this team.”
Trump’s Transgender Sports Policy
Within weeks of resuming office in his second term as the President in 2025, Trump signed an executive order, called “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” barring transgender women from competing in female sports categories and directing the Education Department to investigate schools that do not comply.
The policy gained significant legal backing on June 30, 2026, when the Supreme Court upheld Idaho’s and West Virginia’s laws restricting transgender athletes from girls’ sports in the consolidated lawsuits filed by transgender students Lindsay Hecox (challenging Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act) and Becky Pepper-Jackson (B.P.J.) (challenging West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act). The Supreme Court ruled that the state laws do not violate Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause, strengthening the legal foundation for Trump’s executive order.
Republicans say the measure protects fairness in women’s sports, while LGBTQ+ and human rights groups have criticized it as discriminatory.
Trump’s Long Ties to Sports
Trump has never owned an NBA franchise or held an ownership stake in the NBA. He also has no ownership or investment role in UEFA, the governing body for European football. However, his ties to sports span business, politics, and global events. In the 1980s, he owned the New Jersey Generals in the rival USFL and later backed the league’s antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.
He built one of the world’s largest privately owned golf portfolios through the Trump Organization, with courses across the U.S., Scotland, Ireland, and the Middle East that have hosted professional tournaments.
Trump’s latest annual financial disclosure highlighted his family-linked golf courses as a significant income generator, in addition to billions of dollars in assets and revenue from real estate, licensing deals and cryptocurrency ventures.
During his presidency, Trump also played a role in supporting the United States’ successful bids to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, while maintaining close ties with sports figures and regularly attending major sporting events.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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