‘Slow news day at the office’: LeBron James ignores Trump’s national anthem attack | LeBron James

Donald Trump lashed out at NBA superstar LeBron James on Thursday for what he called disrespectful behavior during the national anthem.

Trump posted a video of the basketball legend performing apparent warm-up moves while lined up with his Philadelphia 76ers teammates before their season opener against the New York Knicks on Tuesday.

“By listening to our national anthem, LeBron James is disrespecting our country! I said from the start he was no good, a total disgrace,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

“LeBron James should apologize to all those great American warriors and heroes who died for the American flag and for everything our country stands for!” he wrote.

The video Trump used had an on-screen caption that read: “LeBron working on his pre-game golf swing.” » It showed him performing sideways swinging and shooting movements in basketball.

Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in Iowa on Thursday night, renewed his attack, calling James’ actions a “great scandal.”

Trump and James have already exchanged barbs, and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer has shrugged off the president’s latest criticism.

“It must be a slow day at the office,” he said after the Sixers staged an epic comeback to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-106 in Philadelphia. “Slow news day at the office.”

James, 41, is entering a record 24th NBA season with his fourth team.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse said Trump’s comments were the kind of distractions he was teaching his team to tune out.

“I think it fits in nicely with other outside noise that we’ve heard before,” Nurse said. “I keep saying the same thing. All I really care about is getting on the practice field, getting them in the film room, getting them on the game floor.

“The focus they had and the intention and all that kind of stuff was exceptional.”

Philadelphia’s victory on Thursday marked both the Sixers’ biggest comeback in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97) and the biggest comeback victory of James’ career.

James finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Tyrese Maxey powered the rally with 32 points and a crucial defensive effort on James Harden. Jaylen Brown, also making his home debut for the 76ers, scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half and 10 in the fourth quarter.

Trump has previously criticized athletes — particularly Black athletes — for their behavior during the Star-Spangled Banner game before games.

During his first term, Trump singled out NFL star Colin Kaepernick for his decision to kneel during the Star-Spangled Banner to protest racial injustice and police brutality.