You probably did not get into basketball to have more of a voice. What is it like discovering you have yours amplified?

KOENIG I think it’s weird that in the United States, athletes have as big of a platform as they do. We don’t really do anything that important. We’re playing a sport.

It’s odd to me that people want to hear what we have to say and care what we have to say, whether they agree with us or not. But I’m thankful for the platform that I have.

The position you’re in as an athlete — you’re kind of a role model whether you want to be or not. You have that voice. You have the right to choose whatever you want to do with it.

Colin Kaepernick really put himself out there.

HAYES What he’s standing up for is obviously the right thing. His stance is that racial inequalities go on, particularly that occur with black people. You have a group of people that get upset about it, or a group of people that think he’s stretching the truth or that racism isn’t as prevalent as it is, and then you take a glance at Twitter, you see people calling him the N-word or saying, “Go back to Africa,” or, “I hope you tear your A.C.L.”

Do you think he has less credibility with the general public because he is an athlete?

HILL That would be the first inclination of people. But at the same time, he got up there and said what he said and was very, very eloquent. And he knows stuff to back it up. I don’t know if you know all the stuff he’s still doing now; he’s having camps to help kids understand their rights.