One of America’s most popular basketball stars has refused to stay in the hotel his team booked for him, because it is affiliated with Donald Trump.

LeBron James and several other players for the Cleveland Cavaliers have reportedly opted out of staying at the Trump SoHo hotel when they travel to New York City to play the Knicks on Wednesday.

The general manager for the team, David Griffin, told the Associated Press the team had made plans “for a group that wants to be elsewhere to be together elsewhere”.

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The booking for the 46-story building in lower Manhattan is part of a deal the Cavs have with the hotel when they are visiting the city. The hotel is part of the Trump Hotels group which was founded and previously presided over by Donald Trump and three of his children Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric. Mr Trump has said in recent weeks he will be leaving his business ventures "in total" to focus on his presidency.

James endorsed Hillary Clinton during the election campaigns and appeared with her at a rally in Cleveland just two days before Americans headed to the polls in November.

The three-time NBA championship winner was one of several athletes to be vocal in condemning Mr Trump for the 2005 sexist comments he made boasting about “grabbing women by the p***y” and his dismissal of it being “locker room talk".

“What that guy was saying,” James said of Mr Trump. “That's not - I don't know what that is. That's trash talk.”

Three other basketball teams are believed to have also boycotted hotels affiliated with the President-elect, including The Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks, according to reports.

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