The Few Seconds That Set It Off
Tuesday night, Madison Square Garden. Season opener. LeBron James was making his debut for the Philadelphia 76ers against the defending champion New York Knicks — one of the most watched regular-season games of the year.
As singer Avery Wilson performed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the cameras caught James in the lineup doing something his teammates weren’t. While the rest of the 76ers stood still — heads down, or eyes on the singer — James swung his arms in a slow golf-swing motion, then mimicked his free-throw shooting form as the anthem played.
It was over in seconds. The game went on. And for two days, almost nobody outside the arena thought twice about it.
Then the President saw the video.
“A TOTAL DISGRACE”
On Thursday, October 22, President Donald Trump posted the clip to Truth Social with a message that left no room for interpretation:
“While listening to our National Anthem, LeBron James disrespects our Country!” Trump wrote. “I said right from the beginning that he’s no good, a TOTAL DISGRACE. 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!”
Within hours, the post was everywhere. Reuters, USA Today and sports outlets across the country picked it up, and the old argument — what do Americans owe the anthem, and who gets to decide? — was raging again, this time between the most powerful man in the country and the most famous basketball player on Earth.
So Far, Silence From LeBron
Here is the part everyone is watching now: as of Thursday, neither LeBron James nor the Philadelphia 76ers had publicly responded to the President’s demand.
No apology. No statement. No clap-back — which, for anyone who has followed this feud, is almost the loudest response of all. James has never been shy about answering Trump before. Whether he treats this one the same way is the question hanging over the NBA this weekend.
This Fight Is a Decade Old
If this feels familiar, it should. Trump and James have been circling each other for ten years. James campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and backed Trump’s Democratic opponents in both elections since. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly taken shots at the NBA’s all-time scoring leader — as recently as July, speaking in the Oval Office, he suggested James “maybe he’s a racist” while declaring Michael Jordan the superior player and “a friend of mine.”
And the anthem itself is Trump’s oldest battlefield. In his first term, he went to war with NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick over kneeling protests, and in 2018 he cancelled the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles’ White House visit after the team clashed with him over standing for the anthem.
The NBA, unlike some leagues, requires players to stand for the anthem — and James was standing. What he was doing with his arms while he stood is now a presidential controversy.
Why It Exploded Now
The timing is not lost on anyone in Washington. The midterm elections are on November 3 — less than two weeks away — and few subjects fire up Trump’s base like the flag, the anthem and the athletes who, in his telling, disrespect them. The WNBA Finals have already been simmering with their own anthem controversy, with two teams criticised for jogging off the court before the anthem during the opening games.
Now the President has put the biggest name in American sports at the center of it.
LeBron’s next move — an apology, a defiant answer, or continued silence — will decide whether this story dies by the weekend or follows both men all the way to Election Day.
Reported from coverage by Reuters, USA Today, the New York Post and Al Jazeera, October 22, 2026.
