The 2024 US Presidential Election dominated the headlines over the last few hours, as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump clashed face-to-face for the first time this year. The two oldest candidates ever, to run for the highest political office, devoted over one and a half hours to the debate that had them answering questions on issues from the economy to the War in Ukraine. However, there were moments when both individuals got sidelined by reportedly taking personal shots at each other.

During the debate, statements from the candidates that had them addressing their advanced age quickly turned into trash talk about golf. Trump, who is known to be a big enthusiast of the sport, bragged about possessing two non-senior club championship titles when talking about his cognitive prowess. He further went on to state that the current President cannot even “hit a ball 50 yards.” This caused Biden to reply and state, “I got my handicap, when I was Vice-President, down to a 6”. Trump did not believe this statement and criticized the President’s swing.

This sudden banter about golf was enough to make some basketball players who have dabbled in the sport themselves make their voices heard. Charlotte Hornets shooting guard Seth Curry highlighted a clip of the moment on his official Instagram story, with the caption “I cannot breathe”, accompanied by a couple of ‘laughing’ and ‘crying’ emojis. Even the New York Knicks star Josh Hart couldn’t refrain from reacting to the debate. He highlighted their reaction through their official X account.

And it was not just the players who were talking about the presidential debate, the NBA fans couldn’t refrain from jumping in too.

NBA World fixates on the Biden-Trump debate golfing moments

Seth Curry and Josh Hart were not alone in their criticism of the two presidents’ ‘golf-banter’. Clutch Points reporter Erik Slater joined in as well. Possibly viewing the debate live right from the start, the journalist felt that enough was enough when the discussion about polices was overtaken by handicap comparisons.

While the ‘golf debate’ went on for some time, the moderators did their best to stir the ship back to its course. Having anticipated such a moment, and knowing how both candidates often went beyond their time during their 2020 debates, the microphones had been muted when it wasn’t a candidate’s turn to speak. Despite this, it was hard to get the two presidents to stop talking over one another.

Portland Trail Blazers insider Casey Holdahl stated his disbelief that democracy has allegedly been reduced to “Two dudes lying about golf”. This caused him to jokingly reference the ‘good old days’ when all that was being lied about was ‘fishing’.

This may or may not have been a reference to the various ‘fishing’ allegations that have run rampant in the case of both Trump and Biden. Several renowned websites referred to Biden’s recent impeachment inquiry as a ‘fishing’ expedition, while others made the term use of when reporting Trump’s recent trial.

One social media user viewing the debate live highlighted her belief that neither of the candidates was the true winner of the debate. In fact, the only winner was Saturday Night Live (SNL), as they got some exquisite material to cover during their shows.

While SNL would like nothing more than to parody the debate, it will be old news by the time the next season commences in late 2024.

Another NBA player closely watched the full debate: Milwaukee Bucks point guard Patrick Beverley. Highlighting a quote made by Trump, he made use of a few fire emojis to give out his review. He especially started enjoying their points of view on childcare, mental health, and education.

Ironically, both of the candidates were reportedly not very clear about how they would handle one of these issues. According to ‘The 19 News’, the question of Childcare was eclipsed by Biden and Trump debating on who “ranked higher on presidential listicles”. The current president did talk about increasing the tax credit while also criticizing his opponent for doing “virtually nothing on child care.” While the total calculated time in discussing childcare was 22 seconds, the time spent debating about golf came up to 56 seconds.

Overall, while the reactions to the debate were mixed, the majority of the people were not happy with golf overshadowing the discussion. There is no denying that the sport is something that people would like to spend hours talking about. Unfortunately, its significance during a presidential debate is not that high.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about the Lakers legend’s infamous feud with the late Kobe Bryant.