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USA Today via Reuters

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USA Today via Reuters

NBA superstar LeBron James uses his platform to speak about issues in society. Over the years, James has talked about multiple issues and has even commented about former President Donald Trump multiple times. He once stated he would not be visiting the White House if they win the NBA title because of Trump. During Trump’s term in 2016, NFL star Colin Kaepernick started a huge movement in the NFL protesting multiple issues faced by African Americans in the country.

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Colin Kaepernick initially started his protest by sitting during the national anthem. This received a huge backlash. Former NFL player Green Beret then convinced him to kneel, rather than sit, out of respect for members of the military. So he started kneeling during national anthems as he called racial justice. This became a huge movement and multiple superstars and teams started following it.

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There were a lot of controversies as well with the movement. Many believed Kaepernick’s actions is disrespectful to the country and military. He and others who were kneeling received huge backlash for their actions. On the other hand, they received a lot of support from many as well.

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LeBron James talks about the alleged actions of the Comboys’ front office

LeBron James over the years has been supportive of Colin Kaepernick‘s kneeling. Years later, in 2020, amidst huge outrages around the country for racial discrimination, the NBA resumed in the bubble because of the Covid outbreak. James and the Lakers along with other superstars and teams started kneeling during the national anthem. The Milwaukee Bucks even boycotted a playoff game as a protest to a police shooting incident. James is a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys but it looks like he is not one anymore.

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He has recently talked about the front office’s alleged action when their players kneeled. “Nah man I had to sit put on the Cowboys man. It just a lot of things that were going on when guys were kneeling,” James said during a live stream. “…The organization was like ‘if do that around here, you won’t ever play for this franchise again.’ I just didn’t think that was appropriate.”

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NBA all-time great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a civil rights activist who has also been using his platform so well over the years. When Kaepernick first started kneeling, the Los Angeles Lakers legend showed his support. When many criticized him for kneeling, Abdul-Jabbar stated, “I think what has happened here is that people are — they don’t like the message, so they’re trying to find fault with the messenger.”

Kaepernick received a number of honors for his efforts to raise awareness of racial inequality and discrimination, including Sports Illustrated’s Muhammad Ali Legacy Award (2017) and Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award (2018).

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Bagavathi Eswaran

1,520 Articles

Bagavathi Eswaran is a senior NBA writer at EssentiallySports, having a strong passion for the sport since the age of ten. As a former college player, Bagavathi has been following the NBA for more than a decade and has found his calling in writing about the sport. He has used his expertise in covering the NBA, as well as other arenas of the sport, to write more than 1400 articles at ES. Bagavathi's pieces on the increasingly dominant presence of European basketball and those following the journey of women-ballers are particularly noteworthy. Along with being a full-time writer, he is also a part of a group of young coaches groomed as trainers by Junior NBA. Bagavathi has trained players from schools and colleges, as well as underprivileged students who can attend the camps for free.

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