LeBron James isn’t one to back down from his beliefs, no matter what critics might say.
The Los Angeles Lakers star has faced plenty of criticism after calling Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey “misinformed” for tweeting his support for the protesters in Hong Kong. He quickly took to Twitter to clarify those comments, but that didn’t go over so well, either.
James had another chance to clarify his comments Tuesday when USA Today’s Mark Medina asked if he understood where the criticism was coming from. And his response was, well, more of the same.
“I mean, it’s a tough situation that we’re all in right now, — as an association, as us as athletes, owners, GM’s, and whatever, so forth. I think when an issue comes up if you feel passionate about it or you feel like its something you want to talk about, then so be it,” he said, via Medina. “I also don’t think that every issue should be everybody’s problem as well.
“… I think that the best thing we can do is, if you’re passionate about it, talk about it. If you don’t have a lot of knowledge about it or you don’t quite understand it, I don’t think you should talk about it, because it just puts you in a tough position.”
Ironic.
And that’s all James has to say about the China issue, at least for now. While stating this, however, he made sure to deliver one final jab.
“I won’t talk about it again,” he said, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “Because I’d be cheating my teammates by continuing to harp on something that won’t benefit us. We’re trying to win a championship. That’s what we’re here for. We’re not politicians. It’s a huge political thing. But we are leaders and we can stand up at times. I’m not saying at this particular time, but if you don’t feel like you should speak on things, you shouldn’t have to.”
It’s probably better he stop talking now before he digs himself a deeper hole.
