LeBron on Enes Kanter’s China Criticism: ‘Trying to Use My Name to Create…Opportunity for Himself’

LeBron James took aim at the Boston Celtics’ Enes Kanter for wearing shoes that appear to depict Chinese Communist Party Leader Xi Jinping crowning a bowed James.

Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter wore sneakers tonight — while playing against the Lakers — with LeBron James bowing down while China’s dictator puts a crown on his head. pic.twitter.com/E1L4ZyPWrF

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 20, 2021

In his post-game presser, a reporter asked, “Lebron, do you have any reaction to Enes Kanter using your likeness on his shoes in his advocacy for human rights?”

“No, I think if you know me, I don’t really give too many people my energy. He’s definitely not someone I would give my energy to,” James replied. “Um, you know, trying to use my name to create, you know, an opportunity for himself. Definitely won’t comment too much on that, if any, and that will be where I lay that at.”

LeBron on Enes Kanter: "He's trying to use my name to create an opportunity for himself…As a man, if you've got an issue with somebody, you come up to him. He had his opportunity tonight. I seen him in the hallway & he walked right by me.pic.twitter.com/KYDh5o6AMA

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) November 20, 2021

Breitbart News’s Warner Todd Huston previously reported on the new shoe design earlier in the week as Kanter tweeted images of the shoes:

“Money over Morals for the ‘King,’” Kanter sharply tweeted.

“Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice,” Kanter continued. “They really do “shut up & dribble” when Big Boss China says so.

“Did you educate yourself about the slave labor that made your shoes or is that not part of your research?” He said.

Money over Morals for the “King” 👑

Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice

They really do “shut up & dribble” when Big Boss 🇳 says so

Did you educate yourself about the slave labor that made your shoes or is that not part of your research? pic.twitter.com/YUA8rGYeoZ

— Enes Kanter (@EnesKanter) November 18, 2021

King James went on to say he saw Kanter in the hallway, but the Celtics center did not address him. 

“You know, he’s always, you know, kind of had, you know, a word or two to say, you know, in my direction,” “King” James said. “You know, as men, you know, if you got an issue with somebody you really come up to em’ – he had his opportunity tonight. I seen him in the hallway walk right by me, so, you know.”

In the past, James has failed to follow his own sentiment that “if you got an issue with somebody you really come up to em’.”

During the 2018 NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors, James stated neither team would want an invite to former President Donald J. Trump’s White House after the series.

“I know whoever wins this series, no one wants an invite,” James said, per Bleacher Report.

Now, of course, James lost back-to-back finals to the superior Golden State Warriors during the Trump years and never had a chance to decline a potential offer from the 45th president, but his sentiment at the time is antithetical to his present belief that “if you got an issue with somebody you,” confront them about it face to face.