Oklahoma City Thunder guard Victor Oladipo says there is “no question” that NBA players will soon be joining San Francisco 49ers second-string quarterback Colin Kaepernick in protesting against the U.S.A. by refusing to stand for the national anthem.
The 24-year-old, fourth-season NBA vet recently told Complex.com that he is sure the protests will be translated over into basketball.
When asked about Kaepernick’s protests coming to the NBA, Oladipo (pictured on the Magic) said, “Oh, no question. I truly believe it will.”
“Because at the end of the day it’s a sport,” the Indiana University graduate added, “and people are gonna be looking at some guys in the NBA to see what they’re gonna do as well. At the end of the day you just control what you can control, so your opinion is your opinion, that’s the beauty of the United States, so, do whatever you feel is best that will help you do whatever you believe.”
The player admitted, though, that he had not yet heard any conversations on the topic among NBA players.
“Not yet, but a few people just in general I’ve had conversations with about that,” he said when asked.
But the guard remained guarded on his personal opinion on the matter by only speaking in general terms about the protest.
“I tell ‘em the same thing, people’s beliefs are people’s beliefs, you know what I mean, you can only control so much, you can only control what you can control, and the most things you can control is yourself,” he said. “So whatever you believe, believe in to the utmost. But I think definitely, we’ll see a few guys in the NBA doing the same thing.”
He later clarified his position in a conversation with TMZ. He says he neither endorses nor judges Kaepernick’s protest, adding that he does not plan to follow his lead.
Oladipo was non responsive about the current election saying only that he intended to vote in November.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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