LeBron James and fellow Cleveland Cavaliers refuse to stay at a Trump hotel in New York
- Cavaliers due in New York on Tuesday for a Wednesday game against the Knicks
- The team was originally booked to stay at the Trump Soho in lower Manhattan
- James and a few of his teammates decided to spend the night elsewhere
- Last month, three NBA teams decided to boycott Trump-branded hotels
- During the election, James was a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton
LeBron James and a few of his teammates on the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers are refusing to stay at a New York hotel that bears the name of President-elect Donald Trump.
The Cavs, who are due in Manhattan to play the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, are making arrangements to stay at a different hotel.
Initially, the team's management had booked rooms in advance at Trump Soho in downtown Manhattan, according to Associated Press.
Trump does not own Trump Soho, but the hotel – like dozens of other properties with the word 'Trump' in its title - bears the president-elect's name by way of a licensing deal, according to WNYC.
LeBron James (left) and a number of his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates are refusing to stay at a lower Manhattan hotel that bears the name of President-elect Donald Trump (right)
The Cavaliers were booked to stay two nights at Trump Soho (above), a hotel that has a licensing agreement with Trump but is neither owned or operated by his company
Following Trump's election victory, however, a number of players decided that they would rather spend the two nights in New York at an alternate location.
Cavs general manager David Griffin told AP that the team has made plans for a 'group that wants to be elsewhere to be together elsewhere.'
Griffin did not say where the players will be staying.
Just days after Trump's win, three NBA teams decided that they would boycott Trump-branded hotels, according to ESPN.
The all-sports network reported that the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies, and Dallas Mavericks decided to no longer stay at Trump hotels in New York and Chicago.
While Trump does not hold equity in the Soho property, his company, the Trump Organization, owns and operates Trump International Tower and Hotel in Chicago, according to ESPN.
James, the most prominent Cavalier and one of the league's top superstars, endorsed Hillary Clinton, Trump's defeated Democratic rival, during the election campaign.
He even appeared with Clinton at a rally in his home state of Ohio, a key battleground that Trump would eventually win.
James isn't the only Cleveland hoops star to publicly enter the political fray.
His teammate, Iman Shumpert, said last week that if Cleveland repeats as NBA champions this year, he will refuse to appear at the White House for the traditional team visit, an honor granted to champions in every major professional sport.
James (right) was a vocal supporter of Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton (left) in the election. Here the two appear on stage at a rally in Ohio, a state that Trump would eventually win
The Cavaliers visited the White House, where they were feted by President Barack Obama just one day after the country learned that Trump won the presidency.
Shumpert told Complex Magazine that he was turned off by Trump's 'racist, sexist bulls***.'
'I do think he's crazy—straight up,' Shumpert said. 'I think he did that stuff to get people to think he's willing to shake it up.
'But did I vote for him? No. The other stuff that comes with him, I can't get with.'
Trump's victory sent shockwaves throughout the NBA, a few of whose coaches weighed in on the election.
'I'm just sick to my stomach,' San Antonio Spurs boss Gregg Popovich told reporters last month.
'Not basically because the Republicans won or anything, but the disgusting tenor and tone and all of the comments that have been xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic.
'I live in that country where half of the people ignored all of that to elect someone. That's the scariest part of the whole thing to me.'
Popovich's colleague, Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy, blasted Trump as 'openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic and ethnic-centric,' according to The Detroit Free Press.
- Detroit Pistons' Stan Van Gundy goes off on Trump: 'Brazenly racist'
- Iman Shumpert Trash-Talks the Warriors, Says He Won’t Visit a Trump White House, and Explains His Love for Crop Tops | Complex UK
- At least 3 NBA teams no longer staying at Trump-brand hotels in NYC and Chicago
- What it Means to Put 'Trump' on the Front of a Building - WNYC
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