Entertainment Sports Stephen Curry Thanks Biden for 'Getting Brittney Griner Home' as Warriors Visit White House Curry said Tuesday's visit was a "great opportunity for us from the basketball community to thank President Biden and his staff for all their hard work and diligence on getting Brittney Griner home" By Natasha Dye Natasha Dye Natasha Dye is a writer-reporter for PEOPLE covering sports. Her previous work appears in The New York Post and Popstar! Magazine. People Editorial Guidelines Published on January 17, 2023 04:36PM EST Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors celebrated their 2022 NBA championship at the White House on Tuesday. The reigning NBA champions visited President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — a tradition for title teams that became a regular occurrence under former President Ronald Reagan — for the first time in seven years, and for the first time since former President Donald Trump left office. During the visit, Curry, 33, expressed his gratitude to Biden and his administration for their work in executing the trade that brought WNBA star Brittney Griner home from Russia, according to The Hill. Knowing that Griner is home safely "means a lot" to Curry, he told reporters. The 2022 Finals MVP applauded "all the work that went on behind the scenes to make that a reality." Stephen Curry Honors 'Wrongfully Incarcerated' Brittney Griner During Warriors Ring Ceremony Curry said Tuesday's visit was a "great opportunity for us from the basketball community to thank President Biden and his staff for all their hard work and diligence on getting Brittney Griner home, who is a big part of our basketball family." While at the podium, Curry thanked Biden and Harris for the invitation to the team and said that he was grateful "to have this opportunity to reflect on" and "bring everybody together to celebrate" the team's 2022 championship win. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. In 2017, when Trump was in office, Curry had spoken out about the possibility of visiting the White House after the Warriors won the NBA Championship that year, saying that if the team were invited and were to vote on whether to go, he would say no. "You can talk about all the different personalities that have said things and done things — from Colin Kaepernick to what happened with Michael Bennett to all sorts of examples of what has gone on in our country that has led to change," Curry told reporters. "We're all trying to do what we can using our platforms, using our opportunities to shed light on that. That's kind of where I stand on that. I don't think us going to the White House will miraculously make everything better, but this is my opportunity to voice that." Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty The athlete had been open about his feelings for Trump. That February, Curry referred to Trump as an "ass." Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry Reunite at Boardroom Holiday Dinner — See Inside Though it remains unclear whether the White House had actually extended an invitation to the Warriors in the first place (players and coaches have spoken about the possibility of attending in the past, but always in the framing of "if we're invited"), Trump still tweeted that the invite was off the table. "Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team," the 71-year-old former Celebrity Apprentice host said, shortly after the television program Fox & Friends covered Curry's comments. "Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!" Over the years, a number of players — including basketball legend Michael Jordan — have opted out of the traditional visit for a number of reasons. For some, like Matt Birk of the Baltimore Ravens, it's a political calculus. He skipped a 2013 visit in disagreement with Obama's support for Planned Parenthood.