NBA postpones playoff games after the Milwaukee Bucks boycott in response to the Jacob Blake

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The sporting world has been thrown into chaos as professional athletes from several codes boycott matches over the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake.  

The entire NBA season is currently at risk of being cancelled, with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers both reportedly voting to boycott the remainder of the 2019- 2020 season as a way to protest police brutality and racial injustice.  

The chaos began Wednesday when the Milwaukee Bucks announced that they would not take to the floor for their afternoon game against the Orlando Magic. 

The Bucks’ decision forced the NBA to also postpone two other games scheduled for Wednesday evening. 

The move threw the season’s playoffs into disarray, and an 8pm players meeting was called to discuss how to move forward. 

According to The Athletic reporter Shams Charania, the closed-door talks were extremely tense, with teams unable to find consensus on how to continue with the rest of the season. 

The Lakers and Clippers allegedly voted to boycott all remaining games, while most other teams voted to continue. 

According to Charania, NBA star Udonis Haslem ‘spoke to the room and essentially asked how the season would continue without the Lakers and Clippers. LeBron James then walked out. The rest of Lakers and Clippers exited behind him.’

One veteran sportscaster told ESPN that the entire basketball season is now ‘in jeopardy’.  

James has been an outspoken advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement, and tweeted earlier on Wednesday: ‘F*** THIS MAN!!!!’ WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT.’  

The NBA boycott has inspired sports teams from other codes to also follow suit and sit out of their games as a way of protest. 

Elsewhere, Major League Baseball has also been affected. On Wednesday evening, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to boycott their scheduled game. 

Additionally, a Major League Soccer match between Atlanta United and Inter Miami was also postponed, while the WNBA has similarly suspended play.  

Former President Barack Obama tweeted his support for the sports boycott, appearing to see it as a sign of peaceful protest. 

He wrote: ‘I commend the players on the @Bucks for standing up for what they believe in, coaches like @DocRivers, and the @NBA, and the @WNBA for setting an example. It’s going to take all our institutions to stand up for our values.’

Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was tasered and shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday. He is now paralyzed from the waist down. 

NBA on the brink: Basketball season could be CANCELLED 

The Milwaukee Bucks announced they were boycotting Wednesday’s game to protest the shooting of Blake, who resides in Kenosha – a short drive from Milwaukee. 

Bucks’ guard George Hill was said to be the first to bring up the idea of a boycott  – a move his teammates supported. 

‘We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,’ Hill told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. 

‘First of all we shouldn’t even came to this damn place, to be honest. I think coming here just took all the focal points off of what the issues are.’ 

Bucks players were seen arriving for the game, but never left the locker room.  

In a statement released shortly after, the team said: ‘The past four months have shed light on the ongoing racial injustices facing our African American communities. Citizens around the country have used their voices and platforms to speak out against wrongdoings’. 

They added: ‘Over the last few days, in our home state of Wisconsin, we’ve seen the horrendous video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back seven times by a police officer in Kenosha and the additional shooting of protesters. Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball.’  

The team was supported by their senior vice president, Alex Lasry, who posted on Twitter: ‘Some things are bigger than basketball. The stand taken today by the players and org show that we’re fed up. Enough is enough. Change needs to happen. I’m incredibly proud of our guys and we stand 100% behind our players ready to assist and bring about real change.’ 

However, the boycott meant that the NBA had to also cancel two other games scheduled for Wednesday evening.  

‘Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers have been postponed. Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled,’ the association confirmed in a statement. 

It came one day after Los Angeles Clippers coach, Doc Rivers, delivered an emotional post game speech on Tuesday evening about racial injustice. 

Rivers, who is black, said: ‘We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones that we’re denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot. 

‘And all you do is keep hearing about fear. It’s amazing why we keep loving this country and this country does not love us back. And it’s just, it’s really so sad.’

The boycotts were somewhat expected following the Blake shooting. 

As the NBA sought to resume the season at Disney World near Orlando, players had to weigh whether playing basketball aided or distracted from their calls for social justice reform. 

Players and coaches around the league say they have been frustrated and are upset after seeing cellphone video that showed Blake being shot multiple times after they have spent a month and a half in the bubble calling for reform.

‘It’s not working, so obviously something has to be done and right now our focus really shouldn’t be on basketball,’ Celtics guard Marcus Smart said.

‘I understand it’s the playoffs and everything like that but we still have a bigger issue, an underlying issue that’s going on and the things that we’ve tried haven’t been working.

‘So we definitely need to take a different approach and we need to try new things out to try to get this thing working the way that we know it should and get our voices heard even more.’

Boycott spreads to WNBA, MLB and MLS

After the Bucks’ boycott, teams from the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) also decided to sit out their Wednesday matches. 

The scheduled games were Washington Mystics v. the Atlanta Dream; the Los Angeles Sparks v. the Minnesota Lynx; and the Connecticut Sun v. the Phoenix Mercury. 

The games will now have the rescheduled. 

“This isn’t just about basketball. We aren’t just basketball players,” Mystics guard Ariel Atkins told ESPN. 

‘We’re going to say what we need to say.’

After boycotting their game, the Mystics still took to the court to stand together wearing white t-shirts. 

Each shirt featured images of seven bullet holes, meant to represent the seven times Blake was shot by police.  

Elsewhere, all three MLB games scheduled for Wednesday night were also postponed. 

In San Francisco, groundsmen were seen covering up the field after the Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers decided to boycott their game. Players were seen out on the pitch prior to the first pitch, which never eventuated. 

Closer to Kenosha, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds also decided not to play their scheduled game at the last minute. 

 Similarly, the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres stayed in the dugout. 

It’s unclear how or when the games will be rescheduled, given that the MLB operates on a tight calendar. 

Meanwhile, Major League Soccer was also thrown into chaos with players also decided to sit out Wednesday.   

All games were suspended, with the MLS Player’s Association releasing a statement, which read: ‘The MLSPA stands with the decision made by players — and with those made by players in other leagues — not to play tonight in protest of systemic racial injustice, the latest example of which is the horrific shooting of Jacob Blake. 

‘Some things are far more important than sports. Change must happen and athletes are committed to leading the way.’

Both the Inter Miami and Atlanta United teams were seen warming up on the field in Florida prior to the kick-off of their game. However, the teams decided at the last minute to join the boycott. 

Activism inside The Bubble: NBA players draw attention to Black Lives Matter   

At Disney, players have walked onto a basketball court lined with the words Black Lives Matter, went to a knee for the playing of the national anthem, and afterward used interviews to call for justice for Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician who was shot eight times in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 13 by plainclothes officers serving a narcotics search warrant without knocking at her apartment. No drugs were found.

In the early weeks at Disney, players felt their message was getting out when anger over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police was still so fresh. But lately, having moved into the playoffs, the conversations had largely shifted toward basketball.

Now with Blake’s shooting coming so soon after the start of the playoffs, Toronto guard Fred VanVleet said it was hard to get excited about the second-round matchup with Boston – if they decide to play it.

‘Coming down here, making the choice to play was not supposed to be in vain but it’s starting to feel like everything we’re doing is just going through the motions and nothing’s really changing,’ VanVleet said, ‘and here we are again with another unfortunate incident.’

On Monday, Hill said players shouldn’t even have come to the bubble because it took focus off the racial injustice issues, where they wanted the attention to be.

Some players, including James, wouldn’t comment on Hill’s thoughts. But they understand the frustration of not being able to join protesters or activist groups in their communities.

‘I’ll be honest, I don’t think there’s anything we can do here that’s going to stop what’s happening across this country, with the latest example being Kenosha,’ Denver coach Michael Malone said. ‘I saw George Hill say in his press conference, why are we even here? Why are we doing this? By being here we’re isolated and can’t help where maybe we need to help. It’s frustrating for a lot of players, a lot of coaches to be here.’

Toronto’s Normal Powell wondered if the images that TV viewers are seeing from the bubble, such as players wearing Black Lives Matter warmup shirts, have become so familiar that that aren’t resonating anymore.

‘It’s starting to get washed out,’ he said.

Players are trying to figure out not only how to revive them, but keep them going long after they leave the bubble. James has focused on the need to vote, not only in November but long after, no matter who wins the presidential election.

But voting comes later. Players want actions they can do now.

Boston’s Jaylen Brown marched with protesters in Atlanta. He said being in the bubble gives a feeling of helplessness, because he isn’t able to do that again.

‘I do think the NBA has done a great job – initially – to kind of give us the platform to speak on certain things and things like that, but I do kind of do feel like it is kind of lessened as the playoffs have gotten started,’ Brown said.

‘Things have kind of diminished. I’m curious to see in what creative ways that people put their minds together to continue to push these conversations and make me feel more comfortable about playing basketball in the middle of like a lot of things that are going on.’ 

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