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LeBron James refuses to stay at Trump hotel, breaking team contract
AP Photo/Aaron Gash

LeBron James refuses to stay at Trump hotel, breaking team contract

A group of Cleveland Cavaliers players who are not fans of President-elect Donald Trump, including LeBron James, have been excused from staying at the team's contracted accommodations, the Trump SoHo Hotel in lower Manhattan, which is owned by the incoming president, when they travel to New York City this week to play the New York Knicks, several sources told ESPN.

Other members of the team still plan to stay at the 46-story luxury hotel, which opened in 2010.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, James endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton about a month before Election Day. And he's not the only Cleveland player upset about Trump's victory last month.

According to ESPN, reverse forward Richard Jefferson said the Cavs' trip in November to see President Barack Obama in celebration of their championship win would make them the "last team to visit the White House," later adding, "I just look across this league. There's been other players with 'scheduling conflicts' as they like to call it — not necessarily a political stance. But I could see other scheduling conflicts coming up."

And in an interview with Complex, reverse guard Iman Shumpert said he's "not going to the White House" while Trump is president:

I understand people’s stance on Trump. I can’t get caught up in the racial, sexist bulls**t he’s got going on. That’s his personal thing, ya dig? But I just don’t think he can make anything shake like that. He not finna start no civil war out here. I do think he’s crazy — straight up. 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. But now that he’s here, I’m not finna drag my feet. I gotta work here, at least until the offseason, if I wanna go get a crib in the Islands.

Shooting guard J.R. Smith voiced his disappointment in Clinton's loss via an Instagram post about his daughter.

The Cavaliers will arrive in New York City Tuesday.

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