NBA postpones playoff games as Bucks lead boycott in protest
Posted August 26, 2020 2:21 pm.
Last Updated August 26, 2020 7:29 pm.
The NBA has postponed all three of Wednesday’s playoff games after the Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott Game 5 of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake last weekend in Kenosha, Wis.
The league said Game 5 in each series will be rescheduled.
The Bucks did not take to the court for pregame warmups, and as the tip-off approached they remained inside the team’s locker room.
Members of the Magic who were warming up then left the court a few minutes prior to the scheduled game time.
According to NBA insider Shams Charania, the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder will also boycott their game Wednesday. The two clubs were scheduled to hit the court for Game 5 of their series at 3:30 p.m. PT.
The Lakers and Trail Blazers quickly followed suit ahead of their Game 5, as teams step away from the court in light of the recent shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wis.
The @NBA will reschedule all three games that were to take place today. https://t.co/CPRM37Y8QU
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) August 26, 2020
Blake, a 29-year-old unarmed Black man, was shot in the back seven times by officers on Sunday.
“We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,” Bucks guard George Hill told The Undefeated‘s Marc J. Spears following the Bucks’ decision to boycott.
The NBA has taken measures inside the Orlando bubble to continue important conversations about racial injustices and police brutality, with players having the option to wear social justice messages on their jerseys, and many kneeling for the anthem in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. But a growing number of players have expressed increasing concern that these messages are getting lost as the games proceed.
“We shouldn’t have even come to this damn place, to be honest,” Hill told reporters earlier this week. “I think coming here just took all the focal points off what the issues are.”
Reports surfaced earlier Wednesday that the NBA Players Association’s executive committee was “in active discussions with players who are seeking guidance on the logistics of potentially boycotting games.”
During an assembly organized inside the bubble Tuesday night, many players expressed feeling emotionally traumatized and that they were not in the right frame of mind to play basketball after seeing the video of Blake being shot.
According to Charania, Milwaukee players remain in the locker room and are currently attempting to reach Wisconsin attorney general of Wisconsin Josh Kaul.
