Kobe Bryant 'For Sure' Would've Participated in Protests During National Anthem

During an interview with Jemele Hill of The Undefeated, former NBA star Kobe Bryant said he would have participated in the type of protests during the national anthem that NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick started.

"Yeah, I would have participated in it, for sure," Bryant said. "I'm sure I would have gotten some flak for it. That's fine. I think that Colin's message was a very simple one. It was police brutality needs to stop; we need to take a look at that."

He continued:

"From my experience in the locker room, it doesn't seem like any of the players that I played with certainly would have had an issue with that. I think we understand this is a free country. I think we have the right to peaceful protest. 

"And by the way, from my point of view, that's what the flag represents as well. The ability to speak. The ability to voice your opinion. And everybody is entitled to that. So everybody getting up in arms about it, they're certainly in their right to do that, as we're certainly in our right to protest—peacefully, at that."

Protesting during the anthem is more complicated in the NBA than it is in the NFL, as NBA rules require players and coaches to stand for it. The NFL has no such rule.

The NBA has made slight exceptions in the past. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, for instance, was allowed to stand and pray with his head down during the anthem after he either sat or remained in the locker room during its playing earlier in his career. The NBA initially suspended him for one game for those actions before reaching an agreement with him.

However, after his contract ended with the Sacramento Kings in 1998, he "couldn't get so much as a tryout with any NBA team," per Jesse Washington of The Undefeated.

Nearly 20 years later—and given the current climate surrounding the playing of the anthem at sporting events after Kaepernick began kneeling during it to protest police brutality and racial discrimination—it's hard to imagine the NBA blackballing a player like Abdul-Rauf. Many NBA coaches and players have been outspoken about their political views and have voiced their support of the NFL players like Kaepernick who chose to protest.

If a prominent player like Bryant protested in 2018—and others joined him—the NBA's mandate that players stand would come under serious scrutiny. But to this point, the league's players have chosen to use their voices in a different way.

"Our guys, I think, have made their feelings pretty clear about things that are happening and I'm very proud of the work that they do in the community. It's amazing the amount of good deeds our players do," Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said in September, per Dieter Kurtenbach of the Bay Area News Group. "We don't need to please anybody. No matter what you do, we're going to take criticism. ... As long as we continue to work and compete, and they're contributing to society in a lot of great ways, that should be enough."