Trump Calls LeBron James a 'Total Disgrace' for Practicing His Golf Swing During the National Anthem

LeBron James, the 41-year-old NBA star who just started his 24th season with a new team, the Philadelphia 76ers, spent part of the national anthem before his first game in Philly colors practicing his golf swing. On Thursday, President Donald Trump called him out for it, writing on Truth Social that James "disrespects our Country" and owes an apology to the troops who died for the flag, OutKick reported.

Here is the president's full post:

"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. LeBron 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!"

What the cameras caught

The moment came Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, before the 76ers played the defending champion New York Knicks on the night the Knicks got their championship rings. As the anthem played, video shows James lined up with his teammates, swinging his arms like he was on a tee box and then running through his jump-shot motion, while the rest of the team stood still, The Independent and OutKick reported.

The clip spread fast. ClutchPoints posted it Wednesday morning with a laughing caption about James being "still in golf mode," The Comeback noted. By Thursday, OutKick founder Clay Travis's post of the video had more than half a million views.

Nobody is calling this a protest. That is the point. A protest at least takes the anthem seriously enough to use it. This was a man worth more than a billion dollars treating two minutes for the country that made him rich like dead time before tipoff. It is like checking your phone during the pledge at your kid's school: not a speech, just a statement about what you think matters.

Not the first time

James has done this before. Last December, while still with the Los Angeles Lakers, footage showed him making the same golf-swing motions during a pregame anthem, and he took heat for it then too, Ynet reported. "Don't do it during my national anthem," sports radio host Craig Carton said at the time.

The NBA's own rulebook requires players to stand for the anthem, but Commissioner Adam Silver has declined to enforce it since players began kneeling during the 2020 season restart, according to ESPN reporting cited by The Spun. Swinging an imaginary 7-iron isn't kneeling, but it shows how little the rule means once a league stops backing it up.

A long feud

Trump and James go back almost a decade. In September 2017, after Trump withdrew the Golden State Warriors' White House invitation over Stephen Curry's hesitation, James called the president a "bum" on Twitter: "Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!" Sports Illustrated reported.

Two years later, when Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey tweeted support for Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters and China punished the NBA for it, James turned his fire on Morey, not Beijing. "I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand," James said, as AP reported, comments that drew wide backlash, per CNN. That history is why Thursday's post landed the way it did with Trump's supporters.

Earlier this year, Trump was asked to pick between Michael Jordan and James. "Michael Jordan is a guy that's a friend of mine, play golf with him. He's a really good guy," he said, adding, "I would say Michael Jordan all the way," OutKick noted. The irony is hard to miss: the president is the one who plays golf with Jordan, and James is the one practicing his swing during the anthem.

The game, and what's next

On the court, James had a solid debut: 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the 76ers spoiled the Knicks' ring night, 106-100. He also got into a heated exchange with a courtside fan before halftime, The Comeback reported.

Neither James nor the 76ers had responded to the president as of Thursday afternoon, according to Ynet. The Sixers play the Cleveland Cavaliers, James's first NBA team, on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN, per The Spun. The anthem will play again before tipoff, and this time, millions of people will be watching what he does with his hands.