Donald Trump has demanded an apology from LeBron James after video appeared to show the Philadelphia 76ers player practising golf and basketball motions during the national anthem before the season opener against the New York Knicks.

Trump cast the moment as an issue of patriotism rather than sportsmanship. In a social-media post, he said James had “disrespects our Country” while the anthem was playing and should apologize to “Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag.”¹ He also called the player a “TOTAL DISGRACE.”¹

Accounts from both perspectives agree on the basic sequence: James was filmed making a mock golf swing and practising basketball movements at Madison Square Garden before Philadelphia’s 106–100 victory. The difference lies chiefly in emphasis. Right-leaning coverage presents Trump’s reaction as a forceful response to conduct it describes as disrespectful, while also recounting the player’s prior criticism of Trump and Democratic political involvement.¹

Left-leaning coverage likewise reports Trump’s accusation, but stresses that James had not publicly responded to this latest demand and places it in the context of their established mutual criticism.² It notes Trump’s July remarks on the debate over basketball’s greatest player, when he chose Michael Jordan and said of James, “maybe he’s a racist,” before adding, “I only like people that like me.”²

The exchange therefore revives a familiar clash: Trump treats the anthem incident as a test of respect for national symbols, while the broader reporting depicts it as another episode in a relationship already shaped by political disagreement. Neither account includes a response from James to Trump’s newest comments.²