LeBron James appeared to work on his golf swing during the national anthem at Madison Square Garden, and the president of the United States noticed.
President Donald Trump demanded an apology from the NBA star in a Truth Social post on Thursday, Oct. 22, attaching video of James moving along the sideline as the anthem was performed. The footage came from the Philadelphia 76ers’ season opener against the New York Knicks on Tuesday, Oct. 20. James, 41, appeared to practice a golf swing and a jump shot while the teammates lined up beside him mostly stood still.
“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. “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!”
The clip carried an on-screen caption saying James was working on his golf swing pregame. In it, he makes lateral swinging motions and shooting movements while standing in the team line. Philadelphia won that game 106-100, with James scoring 14 points in 34 minutes in his competitive debut for his fourth franchise.
Slow News Day at the Office
James answered the president on Thursday night, after the Sixers had beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-106 in Philadelphia.
“It must be a slow news day at the office. Slow news day at the office,” James said.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse filed the criticism alongside every other distraction his retooled roster has absorbed. What he cares about, he said, is getting his players to practice, into the film room and onto the game floor, and he described their focus so far as outstanding.
Trump was not finished. At a campaign rally in Iowa on Thursday, Oct. 22, he returned to the subject, calling what James did “a big scandal kind of a story.”
The Conductor at the Watch Party
The anthem is played before most professional sports games in the U.S., and players and spectators are expected to stand, if they can, and to stay still.
Trump’s own anthem conduct has drawn attention. A 2020 video showed him waving his hands as if conducting an orchestra while the anthem played at a Super Bowl watch party, with others around him standing, hands over their hearts.
He has criticized athletes over the anthem before, particularly Black athletes. In 2016, quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat and later knelt during the anthem to protest police brutality and racism; Trump attacked him and later took credit when Kaepernick could not find a team, before softening and saying the quarterback deserved another chance in the NFL. In 2017, during his first term, Trump condemned NFL players over the “Take a Knee” protests.
He Called Trump a Bum
The two men have been trading shots for nearly a decade. James called Trump “a bum” on Twitter in 2017, the same year he played an NBA game in mismatched shoes, one black and one white, each with the word “equality” stitched in capital gold letters on the back. In 2018, Trump questioned James’ intelligence after the player said he would never sit across from him. James endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and later said Trump’s rhetoric led to the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
In July 2026, asked to settle the greatest-of-all-time debate, Trump chose Michael Jordan, a friend, over James. James signed with Philadelphia that same month, a two-year deal widely expected to be his last, and framed the move as the final decision of his career after seriously weighing retirement. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and self-described die-hard Sixers fan, proclaimed the day of the announcement “LeBron James Day” across the commonwealth.
The Largest Comeback of His Career
The game James walked out of to deliver his one-line reply had looked lost. Philadelphia trailed Cleveland by 29 points before clawing back to win 114-106. Tyrese Maxey led the rally with 32 points and a decisive defensive turn against James Harden. Jaylen Brown, making his home debut in a Sixers uniform, scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half and 10 in the fourth quarter. James, in a record-extending 24th NBA season, finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals.
It was the biggest comeback by the 76ers in the play-by-play era, dating to 1996-97, and the largest comeback win of the career of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
