Barack Obama’s 9 most disrespectful basketball moments, RANKED

Throughout the annals of history, there has never been a world leader who had hoop dreams like Barack Obama.

You may sit back, years from now, and say, “Damn, that Barack, he sure accomplished a lot.” Yes, Obama did a lot for the economy. He championed the voice of America’s oppressed. He gave healthcare to millions of people, then mean-mugged you if you thought you could do better.

But forget all that. He could make your uncle’s knees wobble with a Hardaway double cross and that’s the only tangible policy you need to know about Barry O. His basketball skills enhanced his legend. He was more than a solid player. Obama was disrespectful.

Just because he was a reserve player on his high school team in Hawaii (The Punahou School that won a 1979 state title) doesn’t mean Obama won’t bless you with buckets. He’d probably call you Klay Thompson and hit you with the dribble-drive spin move while you watched his jumper splash.

With that in mind, and Obama’s presidency coming to an end, let’s revisit and rank his most disrespectful basketball moments:

Back in April 2008 when Obama was a baby senator running for president, Tyler Hansbrough was arguably the best college basketball player on Earth. As Obama was passing through North Carolina before a primary, he stopped and ran rock with the Tar Heels.

Obama reportedly said, “These guys are a lot better than me,” but that was a B.S. politician’s lie, and this picture proves it. Hansbrough got baptized on a layup, and his man Mike Copeland just let it happen. And Obama did it with his shirt tucked into track pants he got from the “40-and-older” section of Modell’s.

Roy Williams, the head coach of UNC, remembered this and offered some commentary.

“One of my players Jack Wooten tried to block his shot and I yelled at him. I said, ‘Jack, this guy could be the President of the United States. What’re you trying to do that for?!’ Williams said via GQ. “And President Obama just picked up on it so quickly. He said, ‘You see that secret service guy over there?’”

Obama is disrespectful as hell. What? You don’t think so? Cool, neither did Paul Pierce until his old, grizzled, “this headband is my new hairline” ass watched Obama hit some buckets.

Pierce looked at the POTUS sideways. We don’t do that on my court, son.

While campaigning in South Carolina in 2007, Obama stopped to do an interview with CNN and someone threw him a basketball. His senior advisor, Dan Pfeiffer, begged him not to shoot the jumper.

“I’m like, ‘Do not shoot this. Do not shoot this. Do not shoot this.’ In the stupid world of politics, the metaphor of the candidate missing a shot on live television would have been unfortunate,” Pfeiffer said via GQ. “And he kind of looks at me, like, ‘Really?’ And fires one, and makes it, live on television, sort of feeding the legend of Obama.”

Obama continued to bring this up for FIVE YEARS. Later that year, Obama clowned Pfeiffer on a day when Pfeiffer didn’t miss a shot in warmups.

“The President sort of stopped and was watching. And afterwards, he’s like ‘Pfeiffer, that’s a pretty good shot. I don’t know how you’d get it off in competition, though,’” Pfeiffer said. “He appreciated that I made them, but was sure to point out that he thought my release was not quick enough.”

This is wild on so many levels. In a game tied to his voter registration drive in Kokomo, Ind., Obama was calling ISOs against some random dude. Like, how disrespectful of a mindset does that have to be?

“All right, uh, yeah you. That guy, everybody move. Mouse in the House. FOH.”

Obama hit my guy with the inside-out dribble, the half-spin hezi, and metaphorically spit in his mouth when he dropped a lefty jumper from the top of the key. How you let a dude dressed like a police cadet grab a rebound over your head? Nah. I woulda swung. You ain’t hitting layups on my court in the same sneakers you flip burgers in.

Ain’t no mercy out here in these streets. Obama is a real baller. If you work for him, you’re going to catch this work, too. In October 2009, Pete Souza, the White House photographer, captured Obama repeatedly shot blocking his personal aide, Reggie Love, at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York. Obama was attending the United Nations General Assembly and stopped to bully a man who works for him.

Love was a captain on the 2001 Duke national championship team and played football at the university. It was so ridiculous that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs shared the story to the White House press corps.

“It is prominently displayed for both Reggie, and more importantly, the president’s enjoyment as he walks to and from meetings,” Gibbs said.

Obama blocked his shot so bad, he got his assistant to sign the picture and say he got his shit sent. Then Obama hung the picture up so the whole world could see.

This isn’t even the only time Obama did this. Ken Salazar, the former secretary of the interior, got the same treatment.

“He stuffed me pretty good one time, and his photographer took a picture. And then he photographed the picture and he sent it to me,” Salazar said via GQ.

Man, listen. You do this to me in front of my wife? We fighting. I don’t care what’s in the nuclear arsenal. We fighting. This is some high level disrespect.

Via GQ:

The first time [I played] was a few years ago. George [Clooney] called me out of the blue and said, “Hey, I don’t know what you’re doing tomorrow morning, but the President is going to be out here and he’s thinking you might want to lace up and play some ball.” My dude who was [guarding] him, Michael Heslov, wasn’t really guarding him up to my liking. I didn’t think he needed to necessarily foul him, but I did say those exact words to him: “Foul him.” [imitates other guy] “But he’s the President.” I’m like, “What are you talking about? He’s out here on the basketball court. He clearly is into the competition. So do you want to switch?” He’s like, “No, I got it.” “Then get it! Foul him. Foul him.” [The President] laughed. And then the next time I saw him at another event, I was in a receiving line with my wife. He sees me and he goes, “You know, the last time Don ever played, he was saying ‘Foul him.’” And I said, “Yes, Mr. President, foul you. That is what I said.” “I wish he had,” he said.

The 2009 women’s basketball champions visited 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for a regular honoring ceremony. Everyone was dressed dapperly — dress shoes, nice outfits — but Obama still wanted to ball.

Secret Service agents lined the trees around the South Lawn basketball court, and everyone was confused. Except Obama that is, because he had a plan to beat the best basketball players in the country. Via GQ:

I don’t remember who initiated it, but he’s known to hold his own in the trash-talking category, so I feel like he probably challenged us to a game of P-I-G. I don’t like to make excuses, but he has a home court advantage, and he wasn’t in heels. We were coming off an undefeated season, so that was our first loss of 2009. I’m still little bitter about it. He knew what was going to happen! He’s congratulating us, reminding us of our accomplishments, and then he takes us out back and beats us! And I’m just like, “Did we just get hustled?” He set us up!

The true mark of a real baller is how much shit they talk. Obama, as shown above against noted octogenarian Paul Pierce, is known to spit that hot fire. Well, NBC thought it would jab at Obama for going 2 for 22 at the White House Easter Egg Hunt in 2013. Ha. Y’all thought.

When late-night host Conan O’Brien hosted the dinner, Obama internalized NBC’s pettiness and tattooed the network, making ol’ Conan a symbol of martyrdom.

A wise prophet from The Wire once said: “You come for the King, you best not miss.”

The most disrespectful thing about Obama isn’t the shit he talks, or that he’s gonna shoot a 22-footer in your face, or that he’ll literally pay a photographer to show you how you got your shot blocked. It’s that he’s dresses like one of those guys who speed walks for sport.

It’s like Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, and Donnie McClurkin gave Obama fashion advice and he blended their opinions together. Obama is the kid at prep school who forgot his shorts at home and has to play in khakis with his dress socks still on.

I mean, look at this.

A White Sox hat, some trash Asics, a Jordan zip-up, some Dunkin coffee, and some track pants from a French company you’ve never heard of that probably sells its stuff exclusively at T.J. Maxx. And yet, he’s the guy that gave you 25 with his left hand.

That’s one thing I’ll remember about Obama’s presidency: He had an ineffable cool. His grace took us by surprise. Regardless of how you felt about him as president, Obama was unassuming. He was so modest that America fell in love and made him the first black president. And once he was in office, he was as bombastic as he was on the court. You didn’t see him coming until he was already at the rim.