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Ex-Knick Bill Bradley asks Americans to condemn Trump's comments

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Former New York Knicks small forward and United States Sen. Bill Bradley is asking citizens from across the country to unite in denouncing Donald Trump's recent comments regarding NBA and NFL athletes.

"I'm calling on everyone who has ever been a fan or a player, as a kid or as an adult, to affirm our shared values and to reject the president's comments in no uncertain terms," Bradley wrote in a statement published Sunday by ESPN. "It's time to show up, united and cheering together and for one another, at the arenas and stadiums where our common love of the game and for our country takes flight."

President Trump faced backlash this weekend after criticizing NFL and NBA players for kneeling during the American national anthem and refusing to visit the White House, respectively.

"My entire life has been founded on the knowledge that sports is a model of what's best about America and about humanity: a model of discipline, aspiration, selflessness, and excellence," Bradley wrote.

"Those who would denigrate those values, who would use our shared love of the game to divide us, show a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes us great as a country, and as human beings - not to mention a fundamental understanding of what sports is actually about."

A number of NBA players, including LeBron James and Chris Paul, fired back at Trump after he rescinded the Golden State Warriors' invitation to attend the White House.

Following Bradley's basketball career, he represented New Jersey as a Democratic senator from 1979-97.

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