Raptors link arms for anthems
Members of the Toronto Raptors - both players and coaches - decided to link arms during Saturday's U.S. and Canadian national anthems before the NBA's preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors in Vancouver.
Raptors, anthems pic.twitter.com/qszBJk7Vlj
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) October 1, 2016
Raptors players coaching staff lock arms for the US anthem pic.twitter.com/EmxCL9uzoc
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) October 1, 2016
The Warriors did not appear to do anything different as the anthems played.
Members of both teams have discussed the trend of athletes demonstrating forms of solidarity in the wake of the San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick kneeling as a protest of racially-charged police brutality in the United States.
Related: Kerr says every American should be disgusted with what's going on in the country
While based in Canada, most members of the Raptors are American and several spoke about the current climate at the team's media day. Additionally, while not as frequent or widely reported, similar violent and controversial incidents have occurred north of the border.