LeBron James says he hopes he and the rest of the NBA made Colin Kaepernick 'proud' by kneeling during the national anthem

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LeBron James says he hopes he and the rest of the NBA made Colin Kaepernick 'proud' by kneeling during the national anthem
James and his Lakers teammates kneeled during the national anthem on Thursday night.Getty/Mike Ehrmann
  • LeBron James says he hopes he and the rest of the NBA made Colin Kaepernick "proud" with their pregame protests on the NBA's restart on Thursday.
  • Players wore "Black Lives Matter" jerseys to warm up in before taking a knee during the American national anthem.
  • "I hope we made Kaep proud," LeBron told reporters after. "I hope we continue to make Kaep proud."
  • "Every single day I hope I make him proud on how I live my life, not only on the basketball floor, but off the floor. I want to always speak out against things that I feel like are unjust."
  • James made a game-winning shot with just over 12 seconds left to help the Lakers beat the Clippers 103-101 in his return to action.
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LeBron James says he hopes he and the rest of the NBA made Colin Kaepernick "proud" with their pregame protests on the NBA's restart on Thursday.

Every player from the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Utah Jazz wore "Black Lives Matter" jerseys to warm up in before taking a knee during the American national anthem.

"I hope we made Kaep proud," LeBron told reporters after the Lakers win over the Clippers. "I hope we continue to make Kaep proud."

Kaepernick sat or kneeled during the anthem throughout the 2016 NFL season as a protest against the treatment of black people by police.

"Every single day I hope I make him proud on how I live my life, not only on the basketball floor, but off the floor. I want to always speak out against things that I feel like are unjust. I always want to be educated on things and go about it that way.

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"Kaep was someone who stood up when times weren't comfortable, when people didn't understand, people refused to listen to what he was saying. If you go back and go look at any of his post game interviews when he was talking about why he was kneeling, it had absolutely nothing to do with the flag.

"It had absolutely nothing to do with the soldiers, the men and women that keep our land free. He explained that, and their ears were closed, people never listened, they refused to listen, but I did.

"A lot of people in the black community did listen, and we just thank for him sacrificing everything that he did to put us in a position today, even years later, to be able to have that moment like we did tonight."

James made a game-winning shot with just over 12 seconds left to help the Lakers beat the Clippers 103-101.

After the victory, however, the 35-year-old was quick to expand on the pregame gesture.

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"The game of basketball has always been bigger than just the ball, the rim, 10 guys on the floor with referees," he said, according to Sky Sports.

"It is an opportunity to use this platform to spread a lot of positives, a lot of love, through the course of the whole world. We understand what is going on in society right now and we are using this NBA platform - as players, coaches and organisations - to continue to stand strong on that."

James also posted a photo of himself kneeling on Instagram with the caption: "What's your purpose in life??? Create change, motivate and inspire others are some of mine! I just hope I continue to make y'all proud! Love you all!"

In the other game on the NBA bubble's opening night, the Utah Jazz pulled off a memorable comeback victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, overturning a double digit deficit to win 106-104.

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