The baby face of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was still in evidence recently when he stood for the national anthem before a game in Ice Cube’s Big3 league game. However, just as he had done 21 years ago when he was an NBA player, Adul-Rauf didn’t place his hand on his heart, instead he prayed to his Muslim god.
Abdul-Rauf , looking just as slender as he did two decades and now with his traditional short Afro flecked with gray, has a unique stance into what former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is now going through. Abdul-Rauf protested the national anthem in 1996 as a Denver Nugget.