United States President Donald Trump suggested on 24 July 2026 that basketball star LeBron James “might be a racist”, after being asked whether James or Michael Jordan deserved to be considered the greatest player of all time.
The comment came hours after James announced he would continue his career with the Philadelphia 76ers rather than retire, embarking on a record 24th NBA season. Taking questions during a White House news conference, Trump was asked to weigh in on the Jordan versus James debate and used the moment to take a swipe at James instead.
“Michael Jordan is a guy that’s a friend of mine. I play golf with him. He’s a really good guy,” Trump said. “I think LeBron is, maybe he’s a racist, but maybe he doesn’t like Trump. I don’t know. I only like people that like me, so I would say Michael Jordan all the way.”
Jordan, 63, won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s and was named league MVP five times. James, 41, has won four titles across three franchises, the Miami Heat twice, plus the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, and has also been named MVP four times. He remains the NBA’s all time leader in both career points and games played.
Neither James nor his representatives have responded to Trump’s remarks. The White House also declined to elaborate further on the comment.
The exchange is the latest chapter in a long running feud between the two men. James endorsed Hillary Clinton against Trump in 2016, and the relationship deteriorated further in September 2017 after Trump rescinded the traditional White House invitation for the Golden State Warriors following their championship win, prompting James to call him “a bum” on social media. In 2018, following a James interview with CNN’s Don Lemon in which he accused Trump of using sport to divide the country along racial lines, Trump responded by mocking James’s intelligence. James went on to endorse Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024, posting at the time that his family’s future made his choice clear.
Trump has frequently criticised prominent Black athletes who have been openly critical of him, including Warriors guard Stephen Curry, while regularly praising Jordan, who largely avoided public commentary on political or racial issues throughout his playing career.
Sport has featured prominently in Trump’s second term, with appearances at the World Cup trophy ceremony, the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the US Open men’s final and a New York Yankees game, as well as at this year’s NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, where he was met with boos from the crowd.
James’s focus now turns to Philadelphia, where he joins All Stars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown in pursuit of a fifth championship. “I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team,” James said in a social media post announcing the move.
