"Do what you're good at. Do the category that you do," Ibrahimovic told Discovery+. "I play football because I'm the best at playing football, I'm no politician. If I'd been a politician, I would be doing politics.
"This is the first mistake famous people do when they become famous and come into a certain status. For me, it is better to avoid certain topics and do what you're best at doing because otherwise, it doesn't look good."
James, who is heavily involved in social justice endeavours in the United States, has since hit back at the 39-year-old's comments and insisted that he will continue to use his voice to effect change.
"At the end of the day, I will never shut up about things that are wrong," the four-time NBA MVP said in response to Ibrahimovic's comments, per talkSPORT.
"I preach about my people and I preach about equality, social justice, racism, 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 were going on, and I know what's still going on because I have a group of 300-plus kids at my school that are going through the same thing and they need a voice.
"I'm their voice and I use my platform to continue to shed light on everything that might be going on, not only in my community but in this country and around the world..."
James also accused Ibrahimovic of hypocrisy following comments the former Sweden international made in 2018 when he was subjected to racism due to his non-traditional surname.
"It's funny he'd say that because I believe in 2018 he was the same guy who said, when he was back in Sweden, talking about the same things, because his last name wasn't a certain last name, that he felt like it was racism going on when he was out on the pitch," he added.
"Right? He did say that, right? I thought he said that. I speak from a very educated mind. I'm kinda the wrong guy to actually go at because I do my homework."