Before the season, the NBA sent a memo to its teams emphasizing the rule requiring players stand for the national anthem will be enforced.

If Kobe Bryant were still in the league, he would take the Colin Kaepernick approach to the rule and protest during "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"Yeah, I would have participated in [a protest], for sure," Bryant told The Undefeated in a "Dear Black Athlete" special aired Sunday. "I'm sure I would have gotten some flak for it. That's fine. I think that Colin's message was a very simple one. It was police brutality needs to stop; we need to take a look at that."

Kobe Bryant on national anthem protests. #DearBlackAthlete pic.twitter.com/zHNrAuTRW3
— The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) February 12, 2018

Kaepernick has been jobless since opting out of his contract with the 49ers last March. He became a controversial figure when he began kneeling during the national anthem last August to protest police brutality against people of color and other racial injustices.

Several NFL players followed Kaepernick's lead by either kneeling, sitting, or raising a fist during the anthem. Players like Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters, Eagles corner Malcolm Jenkins and 49ers safety Eric Reid continued their protests this past season.

Bryant, who openly criticized President Donald Trump after his "sons of bitches" comments in September about protesting NFL players, thinks Kaepernick's movement has a place in the NBA.

"From my experience in the locker room, it doesn't seem like any of the players that I played with certainly would have had an issue with that," Bryant told The Undefeated. "I think we understand this is a free country. I think we have the right to peaceful protest.

"And by the way, from my point of view, that's what the flag represents as well. The ability to speak. The ability to voice your opinion. And everybody is entitled to that. So everybody getting up in arms about it, they're certainly in their right to do that, as we're certainly in our right to protest — peacefully at that