NBA player Joakim Noah conducted an anti-war protest by skipping a team dinner with cadets at the West Point Military Academy and a speech from a retired colonel to New York Knicks' players.
The veteran center offered no regrets about his decision.
"It is what it is," said Noah, reports the New York Post. "I didn't commit a crime or anything."
Noah is anti-war and runs a charity that helps combat gun violence. He told the Post he's "uncomfortable" having the team's preseason camp take place at West Point for the third straight year.
"It's hard for me a little bit — I have a lot of respect for the kids here fighting — but it's hard for me to understand why we go to war and why kids have to kill kids all around the world," Noah said. "I have mixed feeling about being here. I'm very proud of this country. I love America. I don't understand kids killing kids around the world."
Noah is entering his 10th season in the NBA. He played for the Chicago Bulls for the first nine years of his career before signing with the Knicks this summer.
Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek granted Noah permission to forgo attending the team function at West Point.
"It's his right," Hornacek said. "We want him part of the team group. He just didn't feel comfortable. We're not going to pressure him into doing that. We had a speaker who I thought was fantastic. I told him maybe I can get him a copy of the speech, so he can hear some of it.
"With all his stuff he does against gun violence, it's plenty fine with us."
Noah isn't the only athlete to make a political statement in recent weeks. Several football players and others have taken a knee or raised a fist during the National Anthem before games to protest police shootings of African-Americans.
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