Stephen Jackson Defends LeBron James, ‘He’s Coming from a Good Place’

Lakers superstar LeBron James was criticized for his comments on Daryl Morey and his support for Hong Kong protesters. LeBron tried to defend himself, and former NBA player Stephen Jackson stands by his side.

Jackson defended his friend, and told TMZ Sports that LeBron isn’t the person haters claim him to be.

“This is not the time to try to crucify LeBron’s character. We all know who LeBron is.”

The former player admitted that LeBron could have handled the situation better. However, he is also convinced that people should stop pouring hatred over LeBron.

“He’s done so much off the court. We can’t let this one incident when we knew he was coming from a good place [destroy his reputation]. He was coming from a good place, he might not know everything he’s talking about but we know LeBron, and it’s never coming from a bad place. I would stand to say that. We know who he is as a person.”

According to Jackson, those who try to shut down LeBron over the Morey controversy were actually his haters. They used the first opportunity to bash the Lakers star.

In a brief convo with TMZ, former NBA player Al Harrington condemned those who attacked LeBron.

“Anybody can speak on it, but what can you do? It don’t matter if LeBron, it don’t matter if President Trump say, ‘Treat Hong Kong right’ … they’re not gonna do it.”

LeBron returned to the US after losing two preseason games against the Brooklyn Nets. He spoke his mind on the Morey situation, and many people didn’t like his point of view, including Hong Kong protesters. LeBron said Morey was uneducated for making such comments.

“We all talk about this freedom of speech. Yes, we all do have freedom of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others and you’re only thinking about yourself,” LeBron said.

“I don’t want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke. And, so many people could have been harmed, not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually. So, just be careful what we tweet and what we say, and what we do. Even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that too.”