Los Angeles Lakers legend LeBron James says he's thankful for young athletes like Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for speaking out on social justice issues amid calls for athletes to stay out of politics.James was speaking with reporters about critical comments made by soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic when he mentioned Mahomes.Ibrahimovic told the Orange County Register, “That is the first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status,” with regard to James' work on social justice issues. Ibrahimovic went on to say, "Stay out of it. Just do what you do best, because it doesn’t look good.”James had a strong response when asked about the comments: "I would never shut up about things that are wrong." ESPN reports James went on to say, "I preach about my people, and I preach about equality. Social injustice. Racism. Systematic voter suppression. Things that go on in our community."Because I was a part of my community at one point and saw the things that was going on, and I know what's going on still because I have a group of 300-plus kids at my school that are going through the same thing, and they need a voice. And I'm their voice. I'm their voice, and I use my platform to continue to shed light on everything that may be going on, not only in my community, but around this country and around the world."So, there's no way I would ever just stick to sports, because I understand how this platform and how powerful my voice is. "James then praised Mahomes, along with Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics and Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints, for their own roles in recent social justice conversations. "It makes me feel proud to be a part of a generation where our voices are heard and guys are speaking from an educated mindset," James said. "But more importantly, when you speak from your heart, it rings bells even louder."And we've got a lot of guys speaking from the heart that didn't believe they had a voice at one point in time, or now they're coming into it and they see that they can have a voice and that their voice really matters. That makes me proud."James' "More Than a Vote" organization pushed volunteers to work at polling centers for the November Election to help cut down on voter suppression — James partnered with Mahomes to champion that anti-voter suppression message. “And you see Pat Mahomes, also a younger guy, and Alvin Kamara in the NFL and those guys speaking about things. They’re young, but they speak about things that they feel like is unjust as well in their communities and whatever that’s going on in the whole grand scheme of things," James told reporters. Mahomes drew headlines last summer after joining with other NFL Stars for a Black Lives Matter video. "I'm going to do whatever I believe, and what I believe is right,” Mahomes said at the time. “And I'm going to do whatever I can to fight for equality for all people.In his interview, James went on to say, "As athletes, obviously, we’ve been hearing this for a long time ... you should be privileged, you should be thankful to be able to dribble a ball or run a football or be able to do 100-yard dash or be able to swing a baseball bat. Things of that nature. You shouldn’t be able to speak about anything else. No matter if it’s right or wrong, you should just do that. But that’s not the case, it’s not the case anymore. As long as I’m around, it won’t be the case for a long time.”