President Obama’s Cavaliers championship speech: Full transcript and video

The Cleveland Cavaliers are visiting the White House Thursday to celebrate their incredible rally from a 3-1 deficit to win the 2016 NBA Finals.

Celebrating the NBA champion is always noteworthy because of Barack Obama’s love of basketball. Unlike previous presidents, Obama has the hoops knowledge to land the kind of jokes that basketball fans can appreciate.

When the Warriors visited last February to celebrate their 2015 title, Obama unleashed a line about the 1995-96 Bulls, roasted Klay Thompson, and mused about interim coach Luke Walton not getting credit for the team’s 39-4 start. We can’t wait to see what he has in store for LeBron James’ crew.

This speech comes just after President-elect Donald Trump’s visit to the White House. James and J.R. Smith joined Hillary Clinton on stage during a campaign stop in Ohio two days before the election.

Below, SB Nation published a transcript of Obama’s speech as it happened. (Editor’s Note: Some words or phrases may be missing).

Hello everybody! Welcome to the White House and give it up for the world champion Cleveland Cavaliers. That’s right, I said ‘World Champion’ and ‘Cleveland Cavaliers’ in the same sentence. That’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about hope and change.

We’ve got a lot of big Cavs fans here in the house, including Ohio’s governor John Kasich, and his daughters Emma and Reese. We got some outstanding members of Congress here.

Obviously we want to recognize Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, who puts so much of himself into trying to make sure this thing worked.

One of the great general managers of the game, David Griffin.

And the pride and joy of Mexico, Missouri, coach Tyronn Lue!

I also, before I go any further, want to give a special thanks to J.R. Smith’s shirt for showing up. I wasn’t sure if it was going to make an appearance today. I’m glad it came. You’re a very nice shirt.

Now, last season, the Cavs were favorites in the East all along, but the road was anything but stable. I’m not even talking about anything on the court. There were rumors about who was getting along with who and why somebody wasn’t in some picture, LeBron’s tweeting. This was all big news. But somehow Coach Lue comes in, and everything starts getting a little smoother, and they hit their stride in the playoffs.

(Everybody can sit down. We’re gonna be here for a while).

They start winning their first 10 games in the playoffs, setting record after record for three-point shooting. But obviously, what this all comes down to is a team that, for the first time in NBA history, comes back from being down 3-1 in the Finals. The first team in history to dig themselves out of a hole like that.

And, I should add, that by knocking off the Warriors, they cemented the 1996 Bulls as the greatest team of all time. So your president thanks you for that. It’s funny, isn’t it? See, everybody’s happen when their team wins.

The comeback was remarkable and you learn about people when they’re down. Against a historically-good Warriors team, the Cavs won Games 5 and 6 by double digits. You had both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving becoming the first duo ever to score 40 points apiece in a Finals game.

And then, in Game 7, the Cavs fall behind on the road, only to fight back and lock up the title with an unbelievable two minutes. There was the block, what LeBron has said is the defining play of his career. The shot, by Kyrie, putting the Cavs up five. The stop by Kevin Love. I mean, Kevin was moving! I hadn’t seen defense like that.

But it wasn’t just those outstanding players. Not then and not throughout the year, because this was always a team effort. J.R. always seemed to hit those shots. ‘No, no, don’t shoot that!’ and then it goes in and then ‘Man, it was a great shot!’

You got Tristan Thompson, who has as great of a motor as anybody and put in extra work to teach himself how to shoot free throws with the wrong hand. I should have tried that with some bill signings around here.

You got Channing Frye, who came in right over the trade deadline and changed the tone of the locker room and his sharp shooting. Richard Jefferson and Dahntay Jones, providing leadership and giving inspiration to all of us old people that, you know, you can still do something at that age.

Iman Shumpert, playing not only great defense and scoring, but also delivered his wife’s baby in the bathtub using a pair of headphones to tie off the umbilical cord. Now that’s something right there. That was an All-Star move. Got the MacGyver flat top, which we miss.

And of course, there’s the guy LeBron calls his favorite player of all time, James Jones. The two are a package deal. Six straight Finals appearances. Their names even go together. LeBron James Jones.

But, the truth is, LeBron wouldn’t be LeBron without his teammates. Kyrie, Kevin, Tristan.

Michelle’s brother, who was an excellent basketball player, always says that you can learn a lot about somebody’s character by the way they play basketball. And when you see LeBron James, it is not just his power and his speed and his vertical. It is his unselfishness. It is his work ethic. It is his insistence on always making the right play. It is his determination. All of which makes him one of the great players of all time.

You saw it in those last three games. He put up some of the most staggering statistics in Finals history. He did it the year before despite injuries, dragging his team along to make it a very competitive series. You saw when this kid from Akron broke down on his knees when he finally realized he fulfilled a promise he made all those years ago to deliver that championship back to Northeast Ohio.

So this is a player and this is a team that knows what this title means to Cleveland. This is a city that’s throughout sports history been through a lot. The Fumble. The Drive. Jordan Over Ehlo. A whole lot more.

But through it all, Cleveland was always Believeland. And that’s why the Cavs have always given back to their fans and to the community that’s been so loyal to them. Over the last 22 years, they’ve given over 23 million dollars to local charities. More than just the money, players and coaches have made about 200 visits annually to schools, food kitchens, hospitals and more, including assisting educational programs that reach more than a hundred thousand kids in Northeast Ohio.

These Cavs exemplify a growing generation of athletes that are using their platforms to speak out. We’ve seen Kevin on combating campus sexual assault, LeBron on gun violence and working with Michelle to help more kids go to school, go to college. His foundation is doing something incredible, paying college tuition for 1,100 kids from Akron. I should mention that, as we were walking out, Dan Gilbert has been unbelievable in the work he’s doing in Detroit, in his hometown, giving back.

Finally, earlier today, the Cavs met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and my senior advisor Valerie Jarrett to discuss the steps they’re taking to help build understanding between law enforcement and the Cleveland community, part of a leaguewide effort to build stronger communities all across the country, including holding open conversations so we can begin bridging divides, diffusing tensions and begin to see each other as one American family. It’s really important work. It’s just one of many recent efforts that we’ve been proud to partner with the NBA during my time as President, from the league’s support of the My Brother’s Keeper initiative to the mentoring initiatives to Michelle’s “Let’s Move and Joining Forces” effort.

The NBA has been a model for positive change. The fact is that it’s not just a government initiative to make change. It’s all of us. Businesses, nonprofits, athletes, role models, working together to achieve the progress that we seek.

I know that Cleveland could not be happier and prouder of having this trophy. But this was always a championship group of guys even before last year, and you should be very proud of them.

Give it up for the World Champs, one last time.

Dan, you want to say anything? You guys got anything to say?

(Kevin Love walks up)

Come on Kev.

LOVE: So, from the 2016 World Champion Cleveland Cavaliers, we wanted to present this ‘16 Obama jersey.

Now, the only thing is though, these sleeves get tight. Can I tear them? Can I rip them?

LOVE: LeBron rips them.

LEBRON: I’ll show you exactly how to rip them.

(Laughs) I’m joking. Alright.