EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — "I'm proud of them," John Salley said, speaking about the new generation of NBA athlete-activists.

Salley joined Spectrum News 1 anchor Amrit Singh to give perspective on how the psyche of NBA athletes has shifted over time.

Over the course of four championships in three decades with three franchises – including the Lakers – Salley knows the influence that comes with athletic excellence. And he also knows how much things have changed from his generation of players to those of today, who are leveraging their skills to impact the social justice landscape.

"These guys have more guts than we did," Salley said. "We were literally ruled by fear. The fear is, you’re an athlete, you’re training your entire life to become a pro," adding that the new guard is embracing its role as more than athletes, but rather, as role models for social justice.  

Last week, we saw that role play out.

When the Milwaukee Bucks protested their NBA playoff game last week over the Wisconsin police-shooting of Jacob Blake, it was an unprecedented exercise of players collective power. It also happened to be four years to the day from former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's first sideline protest.

The players leveraging their work in this way led to the NBA agreeing with its players union to a range of social justice initiatives, including turning team arenas into voting centers on Election Day, to help with voter turnout.

As Salley recounted in this interview, there is a long history of athletes speaking out against injustice, both verbally and through gesture.

But athletes have now seen that their most effective protest in this era has been through the silence that accompanies a walkout. We will see how this continues to change the game.