United States President Donald Trump has branded NBA star LeBron James “a TOTAL DISGRACE” and demanded an apology, after a video showed the Philadelphia 76ers forward going through warm up motions while the American national anthem played. The footage was taken before the 76ers’ season opener against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, James’s first regular season game for his new club. Trump shared it on Truth Social on Thursday, reopening a public feud between the two men that goes back almost a decade.
“While listening to our National Anthem, LeBron James disrespects our Country! I said right from the beginning that he’s no good, a TOTAL DISGRACE,” Trump wrote. He added that James “should apologize to all of those Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag, and all that our Country stands for!”
The clip carried an on-screen caption that read “LeBron working on his golf swing pregame.” It shows the 41-year-old making sideways swinging movements and rehearsing his shooting action while lined up with teammates, most of whom stood largely still. James stayed on his feet throughout, and nothing in the footage suggests the movements were meant as a protest. It was not immediately clear whether the White House intended to pursue the matter beyond the post.
James said nothing publicly before his home debut on Thursday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, his former team. As Boyz II Men sang the anthem at Xfinity Mobile Arena, he stood with his arms behind his back and his head bowed. Asked about the president’s remarks after the game, he brushed them off in a few words, suggesting it had been a slow news day. His coach, Nick Nurse, described the comments as the kind of distraction he is training the team to ignore.
On the court, the night belonged to James. The 76ers recovered from 29 points down to beat the Cavaliers 114-106, the biggest comeback of his career and the largest in franchise history in the play-by-play era. James finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals, two days after scoring 14 in the win over the Knicks.
The numbers behind his career explain why every move he makes draws attention. James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a four-time champion and a four-time Most Valuable Player. He is now playing a record 24th season, with his fourth franchise after Cleveland, Miami and the Los Angeles Lakers, having joined Philadelphia in the summer.
His quarrel with Trump began in earnest in September 2017. After the president withdrew a White House invitation to Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, James called him a “bum” on Twitter. Asked days later whether he would kneel during the anthem, he replied: “My voice is stronger than my knee.” That December, during a game in Washington, he wore one black shoe and one white shoe, each with the word “equality” printed on the back.
Trump has returned the fire more than once. In August 2018, after James spoke to CNN’s Don Lemon about his school for at-risk children in Akron, the president mocked the intelligence of both men on Twitter. James has since made a habit of answering him sparingly, as he did again on Thursday.
The anthem has long been one of Trump’s chosen battlegrounds with athletes. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016 in protest against racial injustice and police brutality. In September 2017, Trump urged NFL owners to sack players who knelt, which led to demonstrations by players across the league that weekend. Most of the athletes he has publicly criticised over anthem conduct have been Black.
In 2020, when NBA players knelt after the league resumed play during the pandemic, Trump called the gesture disgraceful and said he turned off games when he saw it. James was among the players who knelt at the time. The 76ers had not commented publicly on the latest dispute by the time of their home opener.