Donald Trump said what he considered a National Basketball Association political activity would destroy the sport.
After prominent players like Lebron James refused to take the field for the playoffs this week to protest the Kenosha police shooting, the US president extended his attack to a boycott.
“I think what they’re doing at the NBA in particular will destroy basketball,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday night. He said it would be “threatening” to the NBA.
NBA players halted play for three days in a protest sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The league and players association said on Friday that the playoffs would resume on Saturday with a deal that includes increased access to voting in the November US presidential election.
Trump said people didn’t want to be confronted with politics when they watched sports.
“It’s very bad for the NBA, and it’s going to prove bad for football,” he said, anticipating what many believe will be similar action for players when the NFL football season begins.
James, an outspoken activist and frequent critic of Trump, helped form a group that will spend millions of dollars to combat the deprivation of voter rights in predominantly black communities ahead of the election between Trump and his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.
He also helped push the NBA to acknowledge racial justice issues and the Black Lives Matter movement, including the decision to postpone this week’s playoffs after a player boycott to protest the killing of Jacob Blake, a man. of color, by the police in Wisconsin.
The NBA and its players said on Friday that the playoffs will resume after agreeing that teams who own and control their stadiums turn them into polling stations in November to allow safe in-person voting in areas vulnerable to COVID-19.
– one of the first initiatives of James More Than A Vote’s group.
The NBA said it will also form a social justice coalition to work on increasing access to voting and promoting civic engagement.
James, who campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton four years ago, has vowed to campaign for Biden this year. As black voter turnout declined in 2016 for the first time in 20 years, its influence could be crucial in 2020, strategists and activists said.
“LeBron is likely to have a huge impact,” said Karen Finney, Democratic political strategist and aide to Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “He has respect and credibility with the black community, so he’s a huge asset.”
James’s longtime activism on racial justice issues and criticism of Trump prompted white Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham in 2018 to tell him and black NBA star Kevin Durant to “shut up and dribble”.
James, 35, a 16-time NBA All Star considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time, reacted in anger this week to Blake’s shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which sparked days of civil unrest.
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