Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports
NBA player Joakim Noah, who was recently traded to the New York Knicks from the Chicago Bulls, is skipping a team dinner with Army cadets at West Point because he would have felt “uncomfortable” due to his opposition to war. The Knicks are holding their training camp at the U.S. Military Academy there this 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, urging against characterizing his decision as a protest. “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.’’ Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said “it’s [Noah’s] right” to skip the dinner as well as a speech by a retired army colonel.