National Basketball Association

President Obama picks Warriors, is an incorrigible front-runner

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

President Obama went out on a limb for his NBA pick. He, like everyone else, is taking the Golden State Warriors as he continues to pick favorites.

The NBA is not the hardest league to predict. The teams with the best players are the ones competing for the title and the favorites are usually pretty well determined before the season begins. The league has very little surprises.

So it is not a shock that the man holding the highest office in the country (at least until mid-January) is not going out on a limb with his NBA predictions.

The NBA’s First Fan, President Barack Obama told “Sway in the Morning” on Eminem’s SiriusXM Channel Shade 45 he is picking the Golden State Warriors to win their second title in three years. Largely because they added Kevin Durant to their roster.

“I’m going to go with the Warriors just because of [Kevin] Durant, that addition. I think they just have too much firepower,” Obama said. “Although they just got spanked in their first game, so it will take a while to figure things out.”

Picking anyone outside the Warriors or the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers may raise a few eyebrows considering it is the NBA. There are not a lot of teams truly playing for a title this year. Then again, President Obama’s picks have not exactly been daring in the past.

In the same interview he picked the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl.

In his annual NCAA Tournament brackets, President Obama has picked favorites. Last year he picked two No. 1 seeds to face off in the final — North Carolina and Kansas (the Tar Heels lost in the championship game to 3-seed Villanova).

In eight years, he has picked 18 one seeds to reach the Final Four. That is 18 out of 32!

He has had at least one No. 1 seed in every bracket he has picked and at least two in all of his brackets. In 2015, he had three one seeds in his Final Four as he did in his first bracket in 2009. In 2011, he picked all four one seeds to reach the Final Four.

President Obama clearly likes to pick the favorites. He has only picked the national champion correct once — when he picked North Carolina to win in 2009, his first year in office.

So maybe the Warriors and Patriots should consider this a kiss of death from the First Fan.