...President Donald Trump denounced the league as “like a political organization.”...Trump, during a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Hurricane Laura, criticized the NBA. “They’ve become like a political organization and that’s not a good thing. I don’t think that’s a good thing for sports or for the country,” Trump said.
It is not the first time that Trump has blasted the league. Earlier this month, Trump said some of its players are “very nasty” and “frankly very dumb.” Trump during his presidency has taken aim at Black athletes in particular, saying in 2018 of NFL players who knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality: “maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.”
...Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, told Politico he planned to reach out to NBA star LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers about the player protests...Kushner told CNBC that NBA players were lucky to have enough money so they could skip work to protest, adding that they have “put a lot of slogans out” rather than “actual action.” Another White House official, Marc Short, was even more dismissive, calling the NBA players’ protests “absurd” and “silly.”
James, along with other NBA players and coaches, has been critical of Trump in the past. In 2018, he accused Trump of trying to use sports to divide Americans. Trump that year questioned James’ intelligence.
...Biden...and...Kamala Harris...praised the actions of the NBA players...