By Ryan Gaydos
Fox News
July 31, 2020
LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers teammates, along with Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans players, knelt during the national anthem Thursday to protest racial injustice and police brutality.
It was the first protest during the national anthem since Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” in the 1990s, when he played for the Denver Nuggets.
In kneeling, the players followed a precedent set by free agent NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started a firestorm in 2016 when he sat and knelt during the national anthem.