San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been part of a lot of headlines recently ever since he refused to stand during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner due to racial conflicts and violence that has been happening in the country today.
There have been some NBA players who publicly gave their support to the Nevada product like Jabari Parker of the Milwaukee Bucks and Nick Young of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Now, a soon-to-be Hall-of-Famer, and one of the most popular basketball players of all-time, gave his take on the controversy. Speaking to NOLA.com's John Reid, Shaquille O'Neal had this to say:
“I mean to each his own, something I wouldn't do, I don't really have a say on it but I would never do that. My father was a military man and he protected this country – uncles are in law enforcement, they go out and work hard every day. Just, you know, there are other ways to get your point across.”
The four-time NBA champion questioned why Kaepernick only took an active protest stance now when he could have done it much earlier in his career:
”Again, my thing is, you have to enter onto the scene one way, people like Muhammad Ali and Bill Russell, they were one way their whole career. You can't show us something and then go to another just because of certain issues.
”I'm aware of all the issues, but my question is how come he didn't do it last year or how come you didn't do it when you first entered the NFL? Again, I don't know Colin, to each his own, it's his constitutional right to do that but I would never do that.”
We may never know what Colin Kepernick's true intentions were when he first did his action, but if there's one thing that resulted from it, it has caused quite a stir and brought out the different opinions or takes from people with influence.
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