{"id":75504,"date":"2026-06-09T03:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T06:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/06\/09\/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-shakes-hands-with-knicks-fans-and-poses-for-selfies-after-paying-1k-for-standing-room-only-nba-finals-ticket\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T03:23:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T06:23:00","slug":"nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-shakes-hands-with-knicks-fans-and-poses-for-selfies-after-paying-1k-for-standing-room-only-nba-finals-ticket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/06\/09\/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-shakes-hands-with-knicks-fans-and-poses-for-selfies-after-paying-1k-for-standing-room-only-nba-finals-ticket\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani shakes hands with Knicks fans and poses for selfies after paying $1k for standing-room-only NBA Finals ticket"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"js-article-text\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=dailymail.com\">save us as a Preferred Source<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By JAMES COHEN AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/profile-154\/ben-nagle.html\">BEN NAGLE, US SPORTS EDITOR<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><span> <span>Published:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-06-09T06:22:16+0100\"> 01:22 EDT, 9 June 2026 <\/time> <\/span> | <span> <span>Updated:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-06-09T07:23:27+0100\"> 02:23 EDT, 9 June 2026 <\/time> <\/span> <\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>While President Trump watched on from behind bulletproof glass in a swanky VIP suite, New York mayor Zohran Mamdani was spotted at the <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/sport\/nba\/index.html\" id=\"mol-c985daf0-63b1-11f1-aae0-939095a24360\">NBA<\/a>Finals shaking hands and posing for selfies with Knicks fans.<\/p>\n<p>The two politicians enjoyed polar opposite experiences at the Game 3 showdown between the Knicks and <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/sport\/san-antonio-spurs\/index.html\" id=\"mol-e4c81880-63c2-11f1-aae0-939095a24360\">San Antonio Spurs<\/a> &#8211; but neither of them occupied a $50,000 courtside seat at the world&#8217;s most famous arena.<\/p>\n<p>While security concerns ensured Trump had to be in an elevated VIP suite with Secret Service watching closely, Mamdani instead enjoyed a decidedly more common approach &#8211; joining some pals in the &#8216;standing room only&#8217; section of MSG.<\/p>\n<p>At halftime, the Daily Mail spotted the mayor mingling with the New York public, grinning as he posed for photos and shook hands with other fans.<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani appeared to have time for everyone as he chatted to those around him, before making his way back to his vantage point for the third quarter of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Monday, Mamdani had told reporters in Central Park that he had paid for his own ticket to the game, shelling out just shy of $1,000 for his spot.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Zohran Mamdani poses for a photo in the Standing Room Only section of MSG on Monday night<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Daily Mail saw the mayor pose for photos and shake hands with fans during a break<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Mamdani smiles for a photo during the halftime break of the NBA Finals Game 3 at MSG<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Not every New Yorker was convinced, though, with some wondering whether some sort of mayoral discount had been applied.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I bought my tickets for nearly $1,000 from Madison Square Garden,&#8217; he said. &#8216;I&#8217;ll be going to tonight&#8217;s Game 3, and I&#8217;ll be standing for the duration of the game.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He insisted that he purchased his ticket &#8216;directly from the organization itself&#8217;, but on Monday afternoon tickets in the same section were being sold on resale sites for as much as $4,900.<\/p>\n<p>That said, Mamdani is a regular in the nosebleeds at MSG, and has previously been spotted at Knicks games in a similar section.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, meanwhile, garnered far more attention in his suite &#8211; particularly when he was shown on the jumbotron during the national anthem.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Donald Trump and his granddaughter Kai smirked as boos rang around MSG on Monday<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>At the Bryant Park watch party, Knicks fans made their feelings clear towards the president<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a brutal moment broadcast live to the world, the president was loudly booed as he stood alongside his granddaughter Kai and Knicks owner James Dolan during the Star-Spangled Banner.<\/p>\n<p>The president appeared to take the negative reaction in his stride, raising a wry smile to the crowd as he saluted and then raised a fist to the anthem, which was being sung by Grammy Award-nominated artist Avery Wilson.<\/p>\n<p>His granddaughter Kai, standing alongside him, also appeared to smirk at the boos as the pair watched on from behind the protective screens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>                                                                                                                                  <ad-slot position=\"smart_feed\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                <ad-slot position=\"after_article\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; save us as a Preferred Source By JAMES COHEN AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN and BEN NAGLE, US SPORTS EDITOR Published: 01:22 EDT, 9 June 2026 | Updated: 02:23 EDT, 9 June 2026 While President Trump watched on from behind bulletproof glass in a swanky VIP suite, New York [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}