Did President Barack Obama install or renovate the White House basketball court?

1. What actually happened: a tennis court repurposed, not a demolition

Shortly after taking office, the Obama administration “had the White House tennis court adapted so it could be used for both tennis and basketball,” meaning new hoops and court markings were added to permit full-court basketball play on the South Lawn — not a construction of a new building or large-scale demolition ^[1]. Multiple outlets and the White House archives describe the change as an adaptation of an existing 1950s-era tennis court rather than an expensive construction project ^{[2] [6]}.

2. The viral narrative: how cost claims spread

In 2025 social media and partisan outlets recycled claims that Obama “spent $300–$376 million” or “wrecked” the White House to add a basketball court; those assertions circulated especially as comparisons with the Trump administration’s ballroom renovation drew attention ^{[7] [2]}. Fact-checkers and news organizations examined those posts and flagged them as exaggerations or falsehoods, noting there’s no evidence of a taxpayer-funded, $300M+ basketball conversion under Obama ^{[3] [4]}.

3. Cost and funding: what reporting does — and doesn’t — say

Available reports find no documented multimillion-dollar line item for a court “build.” Fact-checkers conclude the expense for adding hoops and lines was modest; several outlets say the work was likely privately funded or not charged to taxpayers, and precise cost figures were not disclosed by the White House ^{[4] [5] [6]}. MarketRealist and PolitiFact emphasize the small scale of the change — “drawing new lines on the court and adding basketball hoops” — and that any cost would be negligible compared with large structural projects ^{[8] [6]}.

4. Where the misleading photo/claim came from

Some posts used historic photos of heavy White House reconstruction (notably Truman-era rebuilding) and misattributed them to Obama-era court work to dramatize an alleged demolition ^{[3] [9]}. Snopes and Raw Story document that images showing extensive demolition predate Obama and were wrongly used to imply he had torn down sections of the White House to install a court ^{[3] [9]}.

5. Why the story resurfaces politically

As the Trump White House’s 2025 ballroom project drew criticism for cost and demolition of part of the East Wing, Trump aides and supporters pointed to past presidential renovations — including Obama’s court adaptation — to argue precedent or deflect criticism ^{[10] [11]}. Coverage shows competing political aims: opponents used the court claim to equate the two projects, while fact-checkers and neutral outlets highlighted scale and funding differences ^{[6] [2]}.

6. Bottom line and limitations of available reporting

The documented record: Obama converted the South Lawn tennis court for dual use with basketball by adding hoops and lines; this was not a demolition or a multi-hundred-million-dollar taxpayer project ^{[1] [2]}. Limitations: exact dollar figures for the court adaptation are not published in the cited sources, and some outlets say costs were privately financed or not disclosed ^{[4] [5]}. Available sources do not mention any evidence that Obama authorized large-scale demolition of the White House to create a basketball court ^{[3] [9]}.

If you want, I can pull the key passages from the Obama White House archive and the Snopes/PolitiFact write-ups so you can quote them directly.