LeBron James Sends Birthday Message to Barack Obama

Barack Obama celebrated his 59th birthday on Tuesday and received a message from the NBA‘s top star. LeBron James took to Twitter to wish the 44th President of the United States a happy birthday. In the tweet, James called Obama “my President and friend” and shared a video of him playing with Team USA Basketball in an exhibition game back in 2012. Obama, his wife Michelle and then-Vice President Joe Biden were in attendance and also seen in the video.

James has always been a big supporter of Obama. In the final night of Obama’s presidency in 2017, James posted a video to Uninterrupted to thank him for his service. “I just wanna say to Barack, to Michelle, to the kids and everybody, you guys have been a true inspiration, not only to myself, not only to my family and my kids but to everybody,” James said. “To people that got dreams about wanting to become the President of the United States or the First Lady, or you know, being in office, or when people say that you can’t do something, you guys have set the standard on you can.”

Obama is a big fan of basketball and played while in high school. Obama would also have pickup games at the White House and would predict the winners of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Tournament each year, which would air on ESPN. In 2017, GQ Magazine wrote an oral history of Obama playing pickup basketball.

“We scrimmaged while he was trying to ‘become the Democratic nominee,” University of North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said. “He wanted to know if our guys would be interested in playing pickup with him. I figured it was one of my idiotic buddies playing a joke on me. He came early one morning, at about 7:15. At that time he was an up-and-comer. You heard, ‘Hey, this guy may have a chance.’”

Obama is known for being a good basketball player, which could be one of the many reasons James is a big fan. In the meantime, James is looking to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA title, and the team is one step closer as they clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. James is aiming for his fourth title. He won two with the Miami Heat and one with the Cleveland Cavaliers.