NBA Star’s Personal Moment With Donald Trump Goes Unnoticed After Controversy at US Open

Kyle Kuzma has always carried a presence that sparks conversation. From being part of the Lakers’ 2020 championship run to taking on a bigger role with Washington and now suiting up for the Milwaukee Bucks, his career has been filled with twists. Earlier this year, Milwaukee traded for him to provide Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard another piece in their chase for another title. Yet away from the NBA court, Kuzma has built just as strong a reputation for his outspoken voice on social media, where his takes often generate bigger headlines than his box scores.

That combination of basketball pedigree and unfiltered commentary has kept him in the spotlight. It wasn’t long ago that he faced backlash for a simple three-emoji post on X celebrating Donald Trump’s 2024 election win. The comments were flooded with fans telling him to “shut up and dribble,” and worse. Kuzma never responded, and fast forward to this week, he once again found himself brushing against that same political figure. Only this time it happened in a setting far from the NBA hardwood.

Kuzma took to Instagram during the US Open men’s final and shared a brief clip of Donald Trump giving him a thumbs-up and smiling from his suite at Arthur Ashe Stadium. On top of the video, Kuzma added “🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣”. A lighthearted touch that suggested he wasn’t taking the moment too seriously. The story didn’t make waves like his earlier posts, in part because it was overshadowed by the larger controversy surrounding Trump’s appearance at the event.

The US President was consistently booed by the crowd after US secret service and other federal security officers ramped up measures at the event. That led to the match between Sinner and Alcaraz being delayed by a cool thirty minutes.

For Kyle Kuzma, this wasn’t entirely uncharted territory. His earlier open support of Trump after the 2024 election proved divisive among fans, especially given that during his Lakers years he had been outspoken against Trump. Back in 2020, he tweeted “No surprises. around half our US presidents have been racist” when Trump amplified racially charged content. Years later, his tone shifted, leading to posts that praised Trump’s win and criticized Democratic messaging. The shift sparked debate about his political evolution, and his reaction at the US Open only added another wrinkle to that narrative.

The timing of Kuzma’s post was key. Trump hadn’t attended the US Open since 2015, and his presence this year caused security delays, long lines, and some of the loudest boos heard in Arthur Ashe in years. With the former president repeatedly shown on the jumbotron and greeted with jeers that drowned out even the National Anthem, most headlines zeroed in on the crowd’s hostility. The NBA star’s little social media moment, funny as it was, simply didn’t cut through the storm. For him, that might be a relief. But for those who have followed his online history, it was another small but telling entry in his ongoing intersection with politics.

The stadium-wide controversy

Donald Trump’s return to the US Open after a decade was supposed to be a symbolic appearance, but it quickly became one of the most disruptive storylines of the tournament. His arrival forced a nearly 30-minute delay to the men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, as over 24,000 fans were funneled through additional security checks. Once inside, the mood didn’t improve. When Trump was shown on the screens during the National Anthem, the boos were so loud they drowned out the singer’s voice, setting the tone for the rest of the night.

The backlash didn’t stop there. After the first set, Trump reappeared on the jumbotron and was met with another round of jeers, even as some fans crowded near his suite to wave and take photos. At one point, he and his entourage left midway through the match while Alcaraz led 3-0 in the third set, only to return later. Journalist Ben Rothenberg noted the exit on social media, writing that Trump had walked out with most of his crew after just 90 minutes. The brief absence added more speculation to an already tense evening.

By the time Alcaraz clinched the trophy, Trump remained seated but didn’t take part in the celebrations. Unlike past appearances at major sporting events where he reveled in the attention, this one seemed subdued. He didn’t present the trophy as he had done on other occasions, and his lack of applause for Alcaraz’s win drew attention online. In the end, Trump’s controversial presence became almost as big a story as the match itself, and in the middle of it all, NBA star Kyle Kuzma’s personal thumbs-up moment quietly slipped through the cracks.