{"id":548454,"date":"2026-01-20T07:42:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/548454\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T07:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:42:21","slug":"lebron-james-criticized-for-martin-luther-king-jr-themed-nikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/548454\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James criticized for Martin Luther King Jr.-themed Nikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James criticized for Martin Luther King Jr.-themed Nikes<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nike\u2019s latest LeBron James<\/a> signature sneaker is drawing sharp criticism after images of a Martin Luther King Jr.\u2013themed design began circulating online.<\/p>\n

According to The New York Times,<\/a> the shoe, an \u201cHonor the King\u201d edition of the LeBron XXIII, features an all-teal colorway inspired by the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the site where Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. The motel later reopened as the National Civil Rights Museum. LeBron James debuted the sneakers earlier this month during the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies, a choice that further tied the design to the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Klay Thompson shows up to support Megan Thee Stallion’s latest Dunkin promo<\/a><\/p>\n

Nike has said the release was intended as a tribute, not a provocation. John Jowers, Nike\u2019s vice president of communications, acknowledged the reaction but defended the design’s intent. \u201cDesign is so subjective, and some people the design will resonate with, and others maybe less so,\u201d Jowers said. \u201cObviously that becomes a little bit more charged when you have bigger principles at play. I think the intent, though, was really to pay homage to Dr. King, his life and his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

That explanation has not quieted critics. ESPN commentator Clinton Yates was among the most outspoken voices pushing back on the concept. \u201cThe fact that this is real indicates, yet again, that not enough Black folks are in enough rooms at Nike,\u201d Yates wrote. \u201cOr that they don\u2019t feel empowered enough to speak up. What a disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Some sneaker fans echoed that sentiment, questioning why a commercial product would reference the location of King\u2019s death rather than his broader work or message. Photographer and sneaker enthusiast Randy Singleton summed up that discomfort succinctly: \u201cOut of all the things to relate back to Dr. King Jr., the motel where his life was taken as inspiration for the shoe is outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Gabby Reece drops new namesake sneaker\u2014and fans will love it<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Civil Rights Museum also made clear it was not involved in the sneaker\u2019s development. Museum president Russell Wigginton said the organization learned about the shoe only after it became public. \u201cWe certainly don\u2019t mind people recognizing and appreciating the work that we do and what happened here,\u201d Wigginton said. \u201cBut we have not been a part of any aspect of that, of the sneaker coming out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James criticized for Martin Luther King Jr.-themed Nikes originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,75296,3593,498,185,75295,150,30256,30258,177,3121],"class_list":["post-548454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-clinton-yates","tag-king","tag-klay-thompson","tag-lebron-james","tag-lorraine-motel","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-martin-luther-king","tag-megan-thee-stallion","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nike"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115926305587933695","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}