Donald Trump forced LeBron James to break unwritten rule for the first time in his entire career

LeBron James and a number of his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates made a so-called "modest political protest" against then-president-elect Donald Trump ahead of their game against the New York Knicks.

Back in December 2016, the Cavaliers recorded an emphatic 126-94 victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. James scored an impressive 25 points, while Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love also surpassed the 20-mark.

It was a superb performance from the Cavs, who ended a four-game winning streak for the Knicks thanks, in part, to the brilliance of their power forward.

But rather than the result itself, one of the big talking points was James' pre-match actions. For the first time in his career, LeBron decided against staying at his team’s designated hotel, which happened to be the Trump SoHo hotel.

In fact, a number of James' teammates joined him at a different Manhattan hotel, with a report from the New York Times describing it as a "modest political protest".

After opting to stay away from the team's primary hotel, James insisted that it was his “personal preference” to find another place to crash the night.

“At the end of the day, I hope he’s one of the best presidents ever for all of our sake — for my family, for all of us,” James said of Trump. “But just my personal preference. It would be the same if I went to a restaurant and decided to eat chicken and not steak.”

James endorsed Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign in 2016 and made a public appearance with her shortly before the election.

"We must address the violence, of every kind, the African-American community is experiencing in our streets and seeing on our TVs," James said at the time.

"I believe rebuilding our communities by focusing on at-risk children is a significant part of the solution. However, I am not a politician, I don’t know everything it will take finally to end the violence. But I do know we need a president who brings us together and keeps us unified."

Almost four years later, in 2020, James said the NBA "couldn't care less" about losing Trump as a viewer, after the US president said that watching players kneel during the national anthem prompted him to “turn off the game”.

“I really don’t think the basketball community are sad about losing his viewership, him viewing the game,” James said after the Lakers' 105-86 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder. "And that’s all I got to say.”