LeBron James leads Donald Trump criticism, refuses to use president’s name

The opening of NBA training camp usually involves bland predications. This year it was a day to blast the US president.

LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers talks to the media during Media Day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Picture: Getty

The opening of NBA training camp is usually a day for coaches to offer guarded optimism about their teams and for players to brag about being in the best shape of their lives. This year it was a day for them to blast the president of the United States.

“The people run this country,” said Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James. “Not one individual. And damn sure not him.”

James’s stinging criticism of President Donald Trump was the most extensive and explicitly political statement of his career. It echoed a chorus across the league, the same day Trump continued his remarkable public spat with the NFL, as basketball players and coaches reiterated their criticism of the president and offered their support for any protests the start of the NBA season next month may bring.

The rebuke from James, who said he wouldn’t let Trump use sports to divide the country, came two days after the most famous basketball player in the world called the most powerful man in the world “u bum.” Once again James refused to even address the president by name. This time he referred to Trump as “that guy.”

“He doesn’t understand the power that he has for being the leader of this beautiful country,” James said. “He doesn’t understand how many kids, no matter their race, look up to the president of the United States for guidance, for leadership, for words of encouragement. He doesn’t understand that. That’s what makes me more sick than anything.”

James’s comments were the latest reminder that, in the last five years, the NBA has taken a different path from other typically cautious major American sports leagues. The NBA has given wide leeway to players to speak their minds without being penalised or ostracised. The voices of NBA players have never been louder than they are right now — and as a result they may have been destined to clash with Trump.

James, who often credits trailblazing, socially conscious athletes like Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, has played the largest role of anyone in ushering this era of outspoken NBA players, especially after he was vilified in 2010 for the way he signed with the Miami Heat.

In 2012, after the shooting of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, James wore a hooded sweatshirt with his Heat teammates in a photo he shared on social media. In 2014, after a grand jury declined to indict the police officer who was involved in the death of Eric Garner, James was among the NBA players wearing “I Can’t Breathe” shirts during warm-ups. While the league’s uniform rules banned such gear, NBA commissioner Adam Silver decided not to fine or sanction them, an early sign the league would allow the activism of this emboldened generation.

Members of the Dallas Cowboys link arms and kneel during the National Anthem before the start of the NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals. Picture: AFP

In his first year as commissioner, Silver had by then taken decisive action of his own, responding to the racist comments of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling by giving him a lifetime ban from the NBA. The punishment reflected the simmering dissatisfaction from players — and one in particular.

“There’s no room for Donald Sterling in the NBA,” James said.

Black players accounted for 74% of NBA rosters last season, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, and its fans are the youngest and most diverse of the major American sports leagues.

“Race is the elephant in the room, and we all understand that,” San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Monday. “Unless it is talked about constantly, it’s not going to get better.” He added: “There has to be an uncomfortable element in the discourse for anything to change.”

Popovich, an Air Force veteran who has coached the Spurs to five NBA championships, has been increasingly vocal in his political criticisms in recent years. His first comments of this season about Trump were among his most forceful yet. “We can continue to bounce our heads off the wall with his conduct,” he said. “Or we can decide that the institutions of our country are more important, that people are more important, that the decent America that we all thought we had and want is more important and get down to business at the grassroots level and do what we have to do.”

A White House spokesperson declined to comment about the criticism from James, Popovich and other athletes, referring questions to the comments from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a press briefing earlier. She said that Trump’s comments over the weekend about the NFL were in support of the American flag and those who fought to defend it, and not about race.

As much as the NBA has embraced social activism, though, it hasn’t seen widespread protests on the scale of those in the NFL, and no one in the league kneeled during the national anthem last season like former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. “I salute the NFL, the coaches, the players, the owners, the fans, everyone that had anything or any association with the NFL yesterday,” James said. “It was unbelievable. It was solidarity. There was no divide. Even from that guy that continues to try to divide us.”

NBA coaches said they were supportive of their players taking similar action, and Memphis Grizzlies coach David Fizdale said he would take a knee with his players if that’s what they chose. James said he wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what happens when the season begins on October 17. But he doesn’t plan to participate.

"It’s not about dividing. We as American people need to come together even stronger.” — @KingJames responds to @realDonaldTrump’s comments. pic.twitter.com/UHpzXpb42K

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) September 23, 2017

“My voice is more important than my knee,” he said. “I don’t think I have to get on my knee to further my point.”

James has amplified that voice in recent years with a megaphone louder than nearly anyone else’s in sports.

He walked on stage at the ESPY Awards in 2016 with Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade and spoke about ending gun violence. After the death of Muhammad Ali in 2016, James declared that Ali was “the greatest of all-time because of what he did outside the ring.” When a racial slur was spray-painted on his family’s Los Angeles home before this year’s Finals, James used the occasion to reflect about race in America, telling the assembled international media that he was thinking of Emmett Till’s lynching and his mother’s insistence on leaving the casket open at his funeral.

It turned out to be an unlikely history lesson for Americans. Google searches about Emmett Till increased by more than 750% the next day.

What he did on Saturday morning had a similar viral effect. James woke up to Trump’s tweet uninviting Stephen Curry from the White House after the popular Golden State star was among several Warriors players who made it known they didn’t want to participate in the traditional championship rite. James decided to fire back.

U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!

— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 23, 2017

“U bum,” he wrote on Twitter, where he has nearly the same number of followers as Trump. “@StephenCurry30 already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite. Going to White House was a great honour until you showed up!”

It has since been retweeted more than anything he’s ever tweeted. As of Monday afternoon, when James held court for 15 minutes on the country’s political situation, the president had not responded on Twitter. The White House responded by referring to Sanders’s remarks that the president’s comments were in support of the U.S. flag.

Wall Street Journal