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Donald Trump has claimed that what he considered a political activity of the National Basketball Association would destroy the sport.
After star players like Lebron James refused to come onto the court for playoff games this week in protest of the Kenosha police shooting, the president of the United States expanded his attack on the boycott.
“I think what they are doing to the NBA in particular is going to destroy basketball,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One Friday night. He said it would be “threatening” for the NBA.
NBA players stopped play for three days in a protest sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The league and the players association said on Friday that the playoffs would resume on Saturday in a deal that includes greater access to voting in the US presidential election in November.
Trump said people don’t want to face politics when they watch sports.
“It’s very bad for the NBA, and it will turn out to be very bad for football,” he said, anticipating what many believe will be similar action from players when the NFL football season begins.
James, an outspoken activist and frequent critic of Trump, has helped form a group that will spend millions of dollars to fight the disenfranchisement of voters in predominantly black communities before the election between Trump and his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.
He has also helped pressure the NBA to acknowledge racial justice issues and the Black Lives Matter movement, including the decision to postpone playoff games this week after a boycott of players to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by police in Wisconsin.
The NBA and its players said on Friday that the playoffs would resume after they agreed that the teams that own and control their stadiums will convert them into polling places in November to allow for safe in-person voting in areas vulnerable to COVID-19.
– an early initiative of James’s More Than A Vote group.
The NBA said it will also form a social justice coalition to work to increase voting access and promote civic engagement.
James, who campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton four years ago, vowed to campaign for Biden this year. With black voter turnout declining in 2016 for the first time in 20 years, their influence could be critical in 2020, strategists and activists said.
“LeBron is likely to have a huge impact,” said Karen Finney, a Democratic political strategist and Clinton campaign aide in 2016. “He has the respect and credibility of the black community, so he’s a huge asset.”
James’ long-time activism on racial justice issues and criticism of Trump led white Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham in 2018 to tell him and his partner, black NBA star Kevin Durant, to “shut up and haggle.”
A 16-time NBA All Star and considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time, James, 35, reacted angrily this week to Blake’s shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which sparked days of civil unrest.
