The Sacramento Kings have been known as one of the more social justice oriented franchises in the NBA over the past several years. Fans will recall their squad taking to pre-game warmups dressed in shirts that read "I Can't Breathe" following the 2014 choking death of Eric Garner at the hands of an NYPD officer. Then last year they jointly expressed solidarity with Colin Kaepernick's protest by locking arms as the Star Spangled Banner played. And despite the league having, for the most part, refrained from escalating protests through the first week of the season, it wouldn't be a problem for any of the guys to perform an act of free speech during in the face of the flag; at least, not for Kings owner Vivek Ranadive.
“If our players have views they want to express in a way that’s not harmful or destructive to anyone, I fully support them. Our players have amazing track records in terms of what they do in the community. These are generous and big-hearted people and I love them and I support them,” Ranadive told The Sacramento Bee in an interview conducted this past week.
Much of the responsibility for Sacramento having been so vocal can be attributed to Ranadive, who was one of the first to condemn Donald Sterling in the days that followed the racist tirade that eventually got the former Los Angeles Clippers owner forced out of the sport. His sense of compassion for others comes from his humble beginnings, as does his stated love for the National Anthem.
As an Indian immigrant, whose father was forced to take his family and flee after serving time as a political prisoner, he sees the custom as symbolic for a nation that protects free speech by law. But he confesses his understanding that "everyone is shaped by their personal experiences,” and thus doesn't take it as anything but an exercise in their Constitutional rights when players kneel or raise their fists as the song echoes through the arena.
“I reject the notion that you’re unpatriotic if you let the players have an open mind about the national anthem," the Bee reports him as saying.
