The most presidential of basketball fans is celebrating his birthday. Barack Obama is pretty steeped in the basketball community, particularly through his Chicago roots and growing up in the Showtime Lakers, Magic-Bird Rivalry, and Bulls dynasty. So when he turned 64 on August 4, his NBA friends had to celebrate. NBA players past and present have unique friendships with the former POTUS. They can get away with trash-talking the guy who’s surrounded by Secret Service and get trashed right back.

Among Obama’s friends in the basketball business is Chris Paul. They hang out casually, play golf, talk smack, make up unbelievable hoops stories about each other, the usual. Paul kept his birthday wish for Obama simple with a picture from one of their golf outings on his Stories. “Happy Birthday 44 🎉[Barack Obama],” CP3 wrote. Can we assume their little ‘feud’ is buried?

Matt Barnes, though, is not afraid to speak his mind and used the ex-President’s birthday to vent a tad. “Miss this type of energy running the country: We got a whole 🤡& his circus running us into the ground,” he wrote on his Stories. No personal pictures to share, though.

The closest we’ve seen Barnes and Obama intersect was when the former Warriors player hosted then Democratic candidate Kamala Harris on All the Smoke last year. They discussed a little bit of Obama among other things, and Barnes is often vocal about his admiration for the 44th president.

Nothing beats the friendship Obama has with the one and only Magic Johnson, though. And for the Lakers legend, August 4 is a double celebration. Fresh off an epic summer trip across Europe, Magic Johnson started his week by wishing his mother on her birthday. And then he moved to his presidential buddy.

“I want to wish former President Barack Obama a magical birthday!” he wrote to accompany a couple of pictures from their meetups. Not quite the usual Magic X essay and not as deep as the profound message for his mom, but heartfelt nonetheless.

Barack Obama’s unbelievable NBA stories

It was former Wizards player, NBA analyst, activist, and poet Etan Thomas who penned some deep words on Instagram in true author fashion. “Happy 64th Birthday to President Barack Obama @barackobama My family and I had the opportunity to meet him on many occasions. I really wish he was able to run for a 3rd term. Even if you didn’t agree with all of his policies and decisions (which I definitely didn’t myself), he carried the position with respect and dignity. Beautiful family, he was committed to, loved God, no scandals or international embarrassments, but was a genuinely good person……and then we had his successor who was the complete opposite smh,” he wrote under several pictures of their encounters.

Thomas summarized Barack Obama’s connection to the NBA world. During his term, Obama not only received and congratulated the NBA champions in the White House, or gave out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired legends. He built a connection with these athletes well past his presidency. The former Illinois senator was perfect to talk about Chicago’s atmosphere during Michael Jordan’s prime on The Last Dance and counter Charles Barkley’s hoops opinions when he interviewed him in the Oval Office.

The weekend before his birthday, Obama even tickled basketball fans with a slightly outrageous claim. The Obama Foundation shared a clip of the ex President talking about his 49th birthday while he was in office. “For my 49th birthday, I organized my own little NBA All-Star game,” Obama explained. “LeBron [James] came and [Dwyane] Wade, Derrick Rose, and Chris Paul. And so we had three pros and two amateurs on each team. I hit a game winner, man. I hit a three, I crossed over Chris.”

While it’s factually true that he indeed hosted his own version of the All-Star Game at the South Lawn, crossing up CP3? That’s a little hard to believe. The kids in that clip didn’t believe him either, that Obama doubled down. “You’re acting like I’m lying. Chris Paul’s a friend of mine. You want me to get him on the phone?”

Chris Paul caught wind of the possible fabrication and commented, “If you don’t have the film…it never happened!!” We’re inclined to believe the returning Clippers star here. But we’ll humor Obama on his birthday as long as he keeps the NBA stories coming.