Charles Barkley: If a player doesn’t kneel for national anthem, ‘they’re not a bad person’

He added: “I’m glad they had unity, but if we have a guy who doesn’t want to kneel because the anthem means something to him, he should not be vilified.”

All players on the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz chose to kneel during the national anthem while linking arms and wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts.

Players were also given a list of acceptable phrases to put on the backs of their jerseys instead of their last names, and many chose to do so, adding slogans such as “Black Lives Matter,” “Say Their Names,” and “I Am A Man.”

Following Thursday night’s second game, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was asked about the kneeling, and he responded by saying he hopes the demonstrations were up to the standards of Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL player who years ago started the trend of kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial inequality and police brutality.

“I hope we continue to make Kaep proud,” James said. “Every single day, I hope I make him proud on how I live my life, not only, you know, on the basketball floor, but off the floor.”