The world of basketball has rallied around LeBron James after he was criticised by Zlatan Ibrahimovic over his social activism.
James has used his platform as one of the globe’s most recognisable sporting stars to tackle issues such as voting rights and social injustice,
Ibrahimovic started the row last month when he insisted that sport stars getting involved in political movements “doesn’t look good.”
The LA Lakers star hit back, insisting he is never someone who is going to just “shut up about things that are wrong,” insisting he is more than an athlete.
And those within his sport have come to his defence too, following the Swede’s attack.
Portland Trailblazer star, Enes Kanter, has been outspoken about the Erdogan regime in Turkey and spoke of the importance for stars to do what they could to fight injustice.
“Someone has to tell Ibrahimovic that there is a difference between political opinions and speaking out against persecution, oppression and calling out dictators,” he said.
“Black Lives Matter is not a political statement, we are speaking against oppression. In the United States we call it freedom of expression,” he added.
Former NBA All-Star, Baron Davis, was more critical of the former Manchester United striker.
In a Twitter post he wrote, “Zlatan stay out of LA. Galaxy suck anyway. And you dumb as hell. Take that stolen Zoohan look and give it back to Sandler.”
Meanwhile, another former star, Jeremy Lin, pointed to the hypocrisy within the world outside of sport when it came to engagements with professional athletes.
Picking up on Ibrahimovic’s argument on why James shouldn’t speak out, Lin wrote, “When athletes donate money from the salaries they earn, no one seems to have a problem accepting it.
“When athletes speak from the platform they earn, then we have problems? Double standards.”