Donald Trump reignited one of American sport's longest-running personal feuds on Friday, telling reporters in the Oval Office that LeBron James is "maybe a racist" and declaring, once again, that Michael Jordan is the player he actually rates.
ONE reports that the president was pressed on the subject by a Fox News correspondent and used the moment to settle an old score rather than the basketball debate he was ostensibly being asked about.
"I only love people who love me, so for me it's Michael Jordan, without a doubt," Trump said, according to the report, before turning to James directly: "Maybe he's a racist. Maybe he just doesn't love me."
Other US outlets that covered the same remarks, including CNN and the Washington Post, quoted Trump praising Jordan as a golfing friend — "a really good guy" — while dismissing James in near-identical terms over the pair's political history.
The timing was pointed. Trump's comments landed just hours after James announced he would join the Philadelphia 76ers for what will be a record-extending 24th NBA season, ending an eight-year run with the Los Angeles Lakers.
ESPN's Shams Charania reported the deal as a two-year, $8 million contract with a player option, pairing James in Philadelphia's frontcourt with former MVP center Joel Embiid for the 2026-27 campaign.
James explained the decision to keep playing in his own message to fans: "I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship." He added that he had considered retirement before concluding, "I still truly love this game, and I have more to give."
The Trump-James rivalry is not new. The two have traded barbs for roughly a decade, with Trump previously mocking James's intelligence and James backing Trump's political opponents, including Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Barack Obama.
Friday's comments, coming from the Oval Office rather than a campaign rally or social media post, are the latest and among the most direct escalations of that feud, and are likely to draw fresh criticism in the United States over the president's language.
For now, James's basketball future is the bigger story on the court: at 41, he heads into a new season with a new franchise and a new co-star in Embiid, still chasing what would be a fifth championship ring in a 24th professional season unlike almost any other in NBA history.
