LeBron James has identified as a Dallas Cowboys fan for as long as he’s been in the public spotlight. James was once a great football player himself back when he was at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School and he’s maintained his love for the sport throughout his legendary basketball career. If you follow James on Twitter, you will see him posting about the NFL pretty much every Sunday and Monday night. He hasn’t said much about the Cowboys recently, though. Now we know why.
LeBron James says his morals won’t let him root for the Cowboys, so he’s becoming a... Browns fan
Whatever you say, LeBron.
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
In a new interview on Instagram Live, James says he’s dropped his Cowboys fandom after Jerry Jones’ comments about players who kneeled for the flag. Back in 2017, at the height of the NFL’s obsession with blackballing Collin Kaepernick, Jones said that any Cowboys player who “disrespects the flag” wouldn’t play for his team. After dropping the Cowboys, James said he’s all-in on being a Cleveland Browns fan now. Watch the clip here:
Jones has slightly shifted his views in recent years, but only after public pressure on the topic cooled. Players and fans around the league aren’t going to forget what Jones originally said.
It’s also pretty strange that LeBron is taking a moral stance against the Cowboys and then picking the Cleveland Browns, of all teams, as his new club to support. The Browns are of course the team that currently employs Deshaun Watson, the star quarterback who has been credibly accused of sexual misconduct and assault by at least 30 women.
James tweeted his support for the Browns’ trade for Watson when it happened:
So there you have it: LeBron is off the Cowboys, and onto the Browns’ bandwagon. His reasoning for jumping ship with Cowboys fandom makes plenty of sense. Supporting the Browns in this case does not.
