NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs Visit President Obama at the White House

In honor of their NBA title in the 2013-14 season, the San Antonio Spurs visited the White House and President Barack Obama on Monday afternoon.    

As was to be expected, the president was effusive in his praise for the players, coaches and organization as a whole. Michael Lee of The Washington Post passed along some of Obama's comments:

He also praised the team for breaking barriers, per The White House on Twitter:

Obama called the team "a great metaphor for what America should be all about," adding that the team's diversity has made it the "United Nations of basketball teams" and led the way for basketball's global expansion, according to the Associated Press (via NBA.com).

And he couldn't resist the urge to poke fun at the Spurs' veteran roster, per The Hill on Twitter:

You can see more of the president's comments and the presentation of the honorary Spurs "POTUS" uniform in the video below.

The Spurs tweeted their thanks to Obama for hosting them after the event:

The Spurs finished 62-20 in the regular season last year and dispatched the Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder en route to defeating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals in five games. It was revenge for the Spurs, as they lost to the Heat in the Finals a season before in seven games.

The Spurs have now won five NBA titles during Gregg Popovich's tenure (he took over midseason as the team's coach in the 1996-97 season). They've reached the postseason in 17 straight seasons and have visited three different presidents in the White House as champions during that time. 

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

And this year's Spurs will almost assuredly make it 18 straight years this season, though they've started a bit slowly by their own standards. They are currently 23-15, seventh in the Western Conference standings.

Still, given their experience, their talented roster and the league's best coach in Popovich, hardly anyone would be surprised if they visited the White House next season once again—and faced a few more cracks from the president about their old age, too.