Carmelo Anthony fully supports Colin Kaepernick's efforts to protest racial oppression and inequality in the United States, and he said he appreciates the courage needed to take that stand.

"A lot of people turned their back on him, was calling him all types of names, [saying] that he's stupid for doing what he was doing. But it's not until you really get to the nitty-gritty of what he's trying to say and what his message is -- I support him, to be honest with you," Anthony said after the New York Knicks' first training camp on Tuesday. "I support the courage that he had to take that stance on the level that he's taking it. As far as everybody else, I don't know if kind of the masses thought the following would be as crazy as it is and everybody would follow suit with him. I think people thought that everybody was going to turn their back on him. I think it actually brought people closer to him and his message and his cause.

"Everybody does it in their own way. He wanted to kneel on the national anthem. His argument was not with the actual flag, it's everything else that comes along with it."

Anthony spoke out in his own way earlier this summer, when he asked athletes to use their platform to draw attention to police brutality in the wake of the killings of African American men by police and killings of police in Dallas. He also spoke on stage at the ESPYS about social injustice along with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul, and he organized a town hall meeting in Los Angeles to discuss police and community relations.

Anthony, who told NBA.com that he has emailed with Kaepernick, said Tuesday that Kaepernick's decision to draw attention to social issues is what he was the kind of thing he was hoping for when he originally spoke out.

"That was the prime example of somebody stepping up," Anthony said. "I think he was the first one that actually stepped up and did something the way that he wanted to do it, use his voice in the way that he wanted to use it. That's the only thing I was asking. I didn't know he was going to do it that way. But it is what it is at this point. Obviously, something good hopefully should come out of what he's doing. I don't think he's being disrespectful. He's not having a loud protest. He's doing it quiet. He's doing it in his own right, and if people want to follow suit, they follow suit. That's on everybody else."

Anthony said that he is unlikely to kneel during the national anthem this season. He and the rest of his teammates are likely to do something to call attention to police violence, but they have yet to decide what that will be.

"I don't know. I haven't even thought that far as far as what I'm going to do with the national anthem," Anthony said. "Whatever I'm going to do, I think we're all going to do it as a unit, as a team. We're all going to be on the same page when we do that. As far as kneeling, standing, I had an opportunity to do that in the Olympics. I stood strong and put my hand over my chest and represented my country the way I had to. I don't really know as far as what's going to happen or not. I do know that something will be done. We will continue to try to get back into the community as a team, as players, and keep this convo going."