"James has said he has two goals in his life. One is to be "a global icon like Muhammad Ali," and the other is to be the richest athlete in the history of the world. And while these may be two great goals, they don't exactly go great together. That's because people like Muhammad Ali didn't become global icons because they were rich, but because they were willing to sacrifice everything-including sponsorship deals-to stand up for what they believed in."
"In the last two decades, we have seen how James's desires have conflicted. During the early days of Black Lives Matter movement, he was outspoken in his support for racial justice. In 2012, he posed with his Miami Heat teammates in hoodies to protest the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, and after the police killing of Eric Garner in 2014, he wore a T-shirt that said "I can't breathe" during warm-ups alongside Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Kyrie Irving."
"Yet over the last several years, as his fortune has exploded into the 10-figure category, James's silence has been noticeable. Neither ICE's killings nor the Trump regime's relentless racism has moved him to speak forcefully. One perfect encapsulation of this untenable balancing act was in 2022 when he filed a trademark for the phrase "shut up and dribble." When Fox News's Laura Ingraham first bleated this at James in 2018, his supporters were enraged, and it became a rallying cry against the racism."
LeBron James set two goals: to be a global icon like Muhammad Ali and to become the richest athlete in history. Those ambitions can conflict because Muhammad Ali became iconic through sacrifice and principled stands rather than wealth. Early in his career James publicly supported racial justice, posing in hoodies after Trayvon Martin's murder and wearing an "I can't breathe" T-shirt following Eric Garner's killing. As his fortune grew into the ten-figure range, public political statements became less frequent. In 2022 he filed to trademark "shut up and dribble," converting a protest slogan into proposed commercial virtual goods.
Read at The Nation
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