LeBron James is taking his political views to New York City.
The NBA superstar headlines a group of Cavaliers players who will boycott staying at the Trump SoHo hotel when the defending champions head to the Big Apple on Wednesday to play the Knicks, multiple sources told ESPN.
The rest of the team will stay at the Donald Trump-branded property, fulfilling the contract the Cavaliers signed with the luxury building when it opened in 2010.
James and Co. join three NBA teams, the Mavericks, Bucks and Grizzlies, that previously elected to boycott the President-elect’s hotels, which exist in New York and Chicago.
Like Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry — both outspoken Hillary Clinton supporters in the run-up to the election — James publicly endorsed the Democratic candidate in October, calling her a “champion for children and their futures” in an op-ed published in Business Insider.
Since Trump’s shocking victory on Election Night, several Cavaliers have expressed their disgust for the controversial real estate mogul turned politician. Forward Richard Jefferson was the first to suggest the Cavaliers would be the “last team to visit the White House” with Trump set to take over for President Obama next month. Guard Iman Shumpert then told Complex last week he would not join the presidential celebration as long as Trump is in office.
James and J.R. Smith both posted to Instagram after the election results were announced in November, expressing their fear of a Trump-led country while attempting to share uplifting messages.
“How do you explain to this face what happen?” Smith wrote attached to a photo of his daughter. “You can be a educated women in your field an not get the job because your a women or cause your black? How do you say ‘go try your best’ even though it won’t be good enough. How do I even feel confident sending her on play dates knowing the kids family voted for the racist, sexist person an I don’t know how they will treat her when she’s gone.”
Smith’s counterpart on Wednesday, first-year Knick Derrick Rose, in contrast has vowed to hold onto the Chicago Trump Tower apartment he has owned since 2012.
“The location is so great, I can keep it in my family for generations,” Rose told The Post on Nov. 18.
Wednesday’s matchup gives the Knicks a chance to rebound from their opening night disaster, which the Cavaliers won handily, 117-88.