NBA champion blasts Mamdani over Netanyahu arrest push: ‘A mayor playing president’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) has faced intense backlash for his repeated calls to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

And the latest person to jump into the debate was someone the mayor likely never saw coming: Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma.

‘People cosplaying as things they don’t have the authority, the talent, or the track record to actually be.’

In a post on X, the 2020 NBA champion weighed in on an address Mamdani delivered last week in which the mayor reaffirmed his belief that Netanyahu should be arrested for serving as “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.”

“I agree with the ICC that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes,” Mamdani said in the video.

The mayor had previously pledged on the campaign trail — and reiterated in a recent interview with the New York Times — that he would seek to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Netanyahu were to visit New York City, which the prime minister plans to do when the United Nations General Assembly convenes in September.

Mamdani added, however, that the NYPD lacks the legal authority to execute the ICC's warrant.

RELATED: Mamdani boycotts NYC Israel Day Parade despite attending other ethnic celebrations

Responding to the remarks, Kuzma wrote in a Sunday post, “This is 2026. People cosplaying as things they don’t have the authority, the talent, or the track record to actually be. Just for content.”

He continued by calling Mamdani “a mayor playing president.”

“Were [sic] raising a generation that learning the reward isn’t in doing the thing it’s in looking like you did the thing,” Kuzma wrote.

“Don't fall for distractions,” he concluded.

In a follow-up post, Kuzma acknowledged the wave of personal attacks he received for criticizing Mamdani.

“X is for conversation, and in today’s age, you cannot have a conversation without being attacked if people don’t agree with what you are saying,” he said.

“But somehow, I am a Zionist because I’m pointing out things that are happening in front of everyone’s face,” he added.

In contrast, San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama liked the video posted to the mayor’s official Instagram account.

President Donald Trump also chimed in on Truth Social, dismissing Mamdani’s calls, writing, “Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States.”

The Netherlands-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024, accusing the prime minister of war crimes, including using "starvation as a method of warfare," as well as “crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."

The United States has not ratified the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, and is therefore not obligated to enforce its arrest warrants.

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