Lakers’ LeBron James vs. Kanye West in 2020 Presidential Election, according to Big 3’s Rashad McCants

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LeBron James
GREENWICH, CT - JULY 08: Kanye West and LeBron James pose backstage prior to the LeBron James announcement of his future NBA plans at the Boys & Girls Club of America on July 8, 2010 in Greenwich, Connecticut. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Estabrook Group)

LeBron & Kanye running for office in 2020? Rashad McCants & Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson discuss that & more on Scoop B Radio. Press Play Below To Listen! 

Los Angeles Lakers forward, LeBron James is preparing a run for President in the 2020 Presidential Election, according to former NBA player, Rashad McCants.

“He’s running for President,” McCants told me by phone on Part 2 of our interview via the Scoop B Radio Podcast. 

“He’s gonna run against Kanye. I mean if I’m LeBron James, I already know that if I beat the Warriors, I can run for President. If he doesn’t beat the Warriors, he’s gotta run and hide for a few years. So this is the pressure he’s under, but I feel that if he can beat the Warriors, he can be President and he won’t have to play basketball ever again. He can just arrest all the Warrior players. I think that’s what he’s going for. He’s going to beat the Warriors and then have them all arrested after he’s President.”

Make sure to check out Part 1 of Rashad McCants’ interview on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.

While James and his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers are finding a sense of normalcy in the NBA’s very competitive Western Conference, McCants is promoting his new book, “Plantation Education: The Exploitation of the Modern-Day Athlete-Student.”

Per Amazon:

Rashad McCants peels back the curtain of a generational slave mentality and how it relates to academic fraud within the university system, while continuing to clench athlete-students in its grip as they make billions of dollars for the slave masters.

McCants recounts his own journey as an athlete-student, seeing the talent of his idols like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and then paving his own path of success—all the way to the UNC 2005 basketball championship.

“The book really just highlights the mentality,” McCants told me by phone.

“There’s a lot of attention being put on us right now, as far as the topic of compensation and student athletics, the NCAA; it’s always been a taken advantage of type of situation. So I think with this people, it makes people question really they’re doing nothing about it or not, and I think that the solutions that we share with the world in this book is also a testament that if anyone really, REALLY wants to do something to help the problem that’s going on in sports right now.”

Rashad McCants was drafted 14th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves by way of the University of North Carolina.

McCants, 34, was a McDonald’s High School All American and won a NCAA National Championship in 2005 with fellow Tar Heels, Ray Felton, Sean May and Marvin Williams.  While at North Carolina, McCants scored 1721 points and made 221 three-pointers.

His best statistical season in the NBA came during the 2007-08 NBA season where he posted a career best 14 points in 75 games.

Post-NBA, McCants won a Big 3 championship with Team Trilogy and is hoping that his book and hoops journey will encourage others to think outside of the box.

Check out the full Q & A of our chat below:

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: We discussed your debut book, The Plantation Education: The Exploitation of the Modern Day Athlete Student, you delved into a lot of stuff. Tell me more about the book.

Rashad McCants:The book really just highlights the mentality, as we talked about before, there’s a lot of attention being put on us right now, as far as the topic of compensation and student athletics, the NCAA; it’s always been a taken advantage of type of situation. So I think with this people, it makes people question really they’re doing nothing about it or not, and I think that the solutions that we share with the world in this book is also a testament that if anyone really, REALLY wants to do something to help the problem that’s going on in sports right now.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Mary Willingham writes the forward of the book. Tell me more about that.

Rashad McCants: Mary is an inspiration, she really is the reason he book is even here. The opportunity to give my voice out the way I wanted, she gave me that opportunity to come forward and outside the lines and to really show myself that is much bigger than me, something that’s a real milestone for me and my life, and I owe it all to Mary.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Something that I always thought was true, even within the last 10 years or so, is that a lot of time you have journalists or authors who write books and tell your story. But what I think you’ve seen within the last 10 years, is that you’ve seen former athlete become the analysts or even current athletes such as CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard are being more vocal. Do you think that the perception of many fans of  people at large that are not in athletics is that you are dumb and don’t know anything and this changes the stereotype?

Rashad McCants: I think that’s been the stereotype for us for a long times and I think we’ve been trying to dispel that stereotype for a long time as well by doing other things. But, you know, there’s a bias out there that there’s certain discriminations out there that are realities that people don’t want to discuss about. When you’re dealing with that in sports, when it comes to getting jobs in certain places, and you’re overqualified or they already are expecting to have millions of dollars, those are real things that we deal with. So in the book, what we highlight is getting a sports education perspective where we don’t have to depend on our names or how far we got in the NBA or if we have education or elevation behind our names, and we have a certification behind there. We put in the time and energy to be an expert in this field, so we don’t have that as athletes. We have to get in where we fit in and be friends with the owner and the coach, play the “good ole boy” game just to get ahead. And I think in this book, we give solutions where there’s no more shucking and driving in order to get the job. We actually want to create facilities where you are the expert and actually put in the work to know your shit.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Here’s a follow-up question. We spoke in our interview yesterday about Jay-Z and he’s my favorite rapper. It seems as though when he put 4:44 out as an album, it was enlightenment moment for him as opposed to his prior albums, in particularly his first album Reasonable Doubt. Do you think that 40 Million Dollar Slaves  by Bill Rhoden is to your book what Reasonable Doubt  is to 444?

Rashad McCants: Absolutely, because you can never touch Reasonable Doubt and I think that 444 is Jay’s way of trying help without helping. Jay could seminars and webinars on on saving money and investing and everything else that the album depicts. Jay could be very involved with creating a new economic space for our culture, but you have to be able to want to step into that space. And he definitely will because I think that’s the direction he wants to go in. But yes, I think this book is a 444 to the 40 Million Dollar Slaves, that’s actually kind of where I got the concept to go into this direction.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: When I was in undergrad, I did an independent study on the NBA from a cultural studies perspective and I discussed how the NBA from 1996 to 2004 embraced hip-hop, but it didn’t at first. And I used 40 Million Dollar Slaves as my muse. At what point did you read the book and what did you take from it?

Rashad McCants: My mom actually made me read the books and I immediately began to see the value I had as an athlete. I believe this was around the time of 2007, 2008 when I had my big year in the NBA and I was the only player on the team during Black History Month PSAs. I also think at the time I was the only big guy on the team that had tattoos all over, and there was a certain type of treatment I got, just for being able to step out like that. As you talk about how the culture was changing in that era, that goes back into understanding the value which started to control the NBA and the whole culture around it. So that’s when they started giving us the dress code, and that made everyone feel uncomfortable about the workplace. No one really wanted to wear suits, we just wanted to be us, show up, and hoop. And I think that’s how they did from ’96 to ’04, there wasn’t any dress code, it didn’t matter how you showed up. So when they started they started to put that control level on the NBA, people fell in line right away, and that showed that plantation mentality still existed; when they can implicate that power over you and instill regulations and make you change without any hesitation or rebellion or any of that.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: When I hear you talk specifically about the tattoos, but then being able to do PSAs for Black History Month and you’re so well read. There’s a misunderstanding that you can’t be or do both. Do you feel as though that you’ve set that tone for someone like J.R. Smith; who was from the suburbs, ended up playing golf, went to St. Benedict’s Prep School and is also an author? Like where do you think you are in that order?

Rashad McCants: I mean I guess a lot of the guys were an example of where not to go and what button not to push and who not to piss off. And I think when you do that, and you take those examples from other people’s failures, it gives you a guide. I think J.R., being a young fella, has always been one of those guys who had another level of thinking. He always wants to give back, has a good heart, doing exactly what he’s supposed to do. So paving the way for other young guys like that who’s been misunderstood their whole life and their whole career, it’s an honor.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: When I look at your book, the issue of identity really struck me. In fact, it’s comes full circle right now, particularly for black males. When I was in undergrad, I did an independent study on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where the assignment I created was the detailed the identity of a black male. I used this show as an example because of characters like Uncle Phil, who was like Will, then moved up in corporate America. Then you had Jeffrey, who was British. And then you had Carlton, who grew up in the suburbs all of his life and was perceived white. Then you had Will, who grew up in the hood, moved to the suburbs, and he acculturated and assimilated but made things cool at the same time. And then you had Jazz, who was just a “you-know-what.” Where do you fit in that landscape? Who do you identify with?

Rashad McCants: I don’t think they ever made a character for me in that show. Jazz would probably be the closest, since he’s such an ignorant character. You would never know what Jazz was going to bring to the table in an episode. But as far as identifying, I think the character that I always compare myself with is Django, when it comes to fighting the bad guys. I get the opportunity to go back and free y’all, blow the building up and piss them off at the same time? Yeah let’s do that! And then show them we can go county to county and change ALL of this, even if it means to fight back. So, it’s the whole Nat Turner thing all over again. I’ve built up a reputation enough now where it’s like, I walk into a gym, they look at me like I’m Suge Knight or something, like “oh gosh, who let him in?” You know? So I embrace that villain role now and I understand what it’s gonna take to make a change. They look at me like, “why would you write a book like this?” and “why are you saying this and that?” That’s the same thing as “why are you up there?” or “why are you on that high horse?” or “why are you on good terms with the white man?”

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: How long is the book?

Rashad McCants: It’s about 194 pages.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: What’s your favorite chapter?

Rashad McCants: My favorite chapter is Chapter One, man. Chapter One, First Quarter, Page 23, start of the Willie Lynch letter. And it gives you the whole history of the Willie Lynch letter and how we got to where we are, right now. This is the only chapter that’s tough to read through, but once you read it, getting through the rest of the books will be a breeze. If you can’t get through the first chapter, you know what type of person you are.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: In today’s modern athletes, do you feel they need to be entrepreneurial or that they just need to shut up and dribble?

Rashad McCants: I don’t think that shutting and dribbling makes you an entrepreneur. I think you want more likes on your instagram page. Because if you want to do something, you’re gonna do it. You don’t need no one’s permission, likes, or comments, to do it. So, I think a lot of people do things for show and some do things for no acknowledgement. It’s not about getting credit when you’re doing good for the community. We’re really out here trying to live and breathe a different topic of life to people, where they actually become the owners. They stop being the workers and start becoming the owners.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Do you think that’s the byproduct of the recession? Is it the new wave of owning things? Where do you think that belief of ownership came from? Did it come from Michael Jordan or from the recession?

Rashad McCants: I think it’s just realizing that you don’t have any options to do anything without someone else’s permission. I don’t think it’s an observation, it’s more of an experience. The more people walk around and realize they don’t have the authority to do those things when it’s somebody else’s. So you end up buying their stuff. I make my own custom clothes and shoes, I might buy some Nike’s every now and then, but I have my own brand. Not because I want to be “fancy,”  but because I like having my own and not having to depend on something else.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: What is a real education for young black athletes?
Rashad McCants: I would say for young black athletes, it would be becoming an expert, on and off the field, in your craft and carer field. If you’re a basketball player, not just being an expert in your craft and field, but also about the sport, the culture of it, the business of it, the life around it, everything.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: With Jalen Rose and LeBron James setting the tone for creating charter schools, where do you think athletes need to gauge their focus on? What’s the next wave: will it be creating food, a curriculum, a church? What do you think the new waves for athletes are in that regard?

Rashad McCants: I mean, at some point, if we complain enough, somebody is going to have to do something. So, at this point, if we want to get out of this whole racial dispel and worried about what the president thinks about us and being against us, it’s like we’re creating our own problem and then we don’t even participate in those conversations. We don’t pay attention to those new feeds with racial slurs and bigotry. People pay attention to what they watch all the time, so they want racism, they want negativity they love that shit. So for us, we don’t want to create that’s o if we have the opportunity to create our own, let’s create a positive environment, lets create positivity. So athletes have the ability, with he money that they produce on a regular basis to produce a positive environment for their culture. It just hasn’t happened yet because they want the credit for it. They can’t get with a collective of people with the same ideas as them, people with no money but can say “hey, we have ideas too!”

NBA
Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Forty Million Dollar Question: We debunked the belief by Tupac when he said we would never get to see black president. Since we’ve checked that off our to-do list, do you see in our lifetime an athlete running and winning the Presidential race. And if so, who?

Rashad McCants: LeBron is the President already! He has the same training and temperament that Obama has, they’re best friends. Obama’s training LeBron right now! I mean, why do you think LeBron is going out with all this stuff, he’s running for President! He’s gonna run against Kanye. I mean if I’m LeBron James, I already know that if I beat the Warriors, I can run for President. If he doesn’t beat the Warriors, he’s gotta run and hide for a few years. So this is the pressure he’s under, but I feel that if he can beat the Warriors, he can be President and he won’t have to play basketball ever again. He can just arrest all the Warrior players. I think that’s what he’s going for. He’s going to beat the Warriors and then have them all arrested after he’s President.

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