Larry King Says Kaepernick Will Lose Person of the Year Award to Putin or Mueller

Bookies think Colin Kaepernick's got pretty good odds of taking home TIME magazine's "Person of the Year" award for 2017 -- but Larry King really doesn't like Kaep's chances.

We got Larry leaving Craig's in L.A. ... and he seemed legit shocked when we told him the NFL icon was a top candidate.

As for who he does like for the honor -- "I think the 'Person of the Year' will be (Robert) Mueller ... or (Vladimir) Putin," King told TMZ Sports.

And he wasn't blowin' smoke.

Speaking of which ... you gotta watch this epic clip of Larry from earlier in the night: