LeBron James Criticizes NFL Owners’ ‘Slave Mentality’

LeBron James isn’t too happy with the NFL.

On Friday’s episode of HBO’s “The Shop,” the Los Angeles Laker expressed his beef with the league’s owners.

“In the NFL, they got a bunch of old white men owning teams, and they got that slave mentality,” James said. “And it’s like, ‘This is my team. You do what the f**k I tell y’all to do or we get rid of y’all.‘

The three-time NBA champion explained that the owners depend upon the players.

“The players are who make the ship go; we make it go. Every Sunday — without [Los Angeles Ram] Todd Gurley and without [New York Giant] Odell Beckham Jr. — without those players, those guys, there is no football, and it’s the same in the NBA,” he said.

James’ criticism of the NFL is nothing new. The star has been a vocal supporter of Colin Kaepernick, the former NFLer who has been without a contract for two years after beginning the controversial kneeing movement during game anthems in protest of police brutality.

When Kaepernick became the face of Nike‘s “Just Do It” anniversary campaign in September, James expressed his support of the athlete. Himself affiliated for years with the Swoosh, James shared Kaepernick’s campaign on Instagram.

Speaking more about the differences between the NBA and the NFL on “The Shop,” James said that the NBA believes more in the potential for a player to succeed.

“In the NFL, it’s like, ‘What can you do for me this Sunday, or this Monday or this Thursday?’ — and if you ain’t it, we moving on,” he said.

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