Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick reportedly admitted that kneeling for the national anthem made him feel freer than ever before.
A former NBA player who’s close with Kaepernick revealed what the former NFL quarterback told him about kneeling for the national anthem.
“We never talked a lot, but we did meet up in the Bay Area when he was going through what he did,” Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf told TMZ Sports. “We had a mutual friend. We met in like a private office. We spoke for about an hour. We just shared information and, if it resonated, we took it.
“The biggest takeaway for me during that whole night was when he said this is the most freedom he’s ever felt in his life. I said to him, ‘Well, it’s because of this freedom that allows people like yourself and those who came before us and those who’ll come after us to take those risks and do what you did.'”
It’s not surprising that Kaepernick feels that way. He knelt for the national anthem in 2016, his last year in football.
He’s attempted to sign with other teams, though none have been interested enough.
“Colin wasn’t protest the anthem, but rather police brutality,” one fan wrote.
“Of course. Free to kneel, free to stand..” one fan added.
“Wait until he finds out he’s not gonna get the $10 million a year from Nike that Colin Kaepernick got,” another fan wrote.
Kaepernick last played football during the 2016 season, but the former NBA player believes he’s still interested.
“I would imagine he still does because when you grow up like we did, many of us start young. And so we train, and that becomes a life for us. It’s in our DNA. You just don’t turn that off, that competitive spirit, right away. Especially the level that he was playing in.”
