On Wednesday, the National Basketball Association players stood in solidarity against racial issues that have been a burden on our society for the last few months. All three Game 5s on the slate were boycotted to raise awareness of social injustice.
The latest incident involved Jacob Blake – a 29-year-old black man from Wisconsin – being shot after failing to obey police orders. He is currently alive but expected to be paralyzed from the waist down for the foreseeable future.
NBA Boycott
While most people believe the Milwaukee Bucks were the catalyst for the day-long boycott on Wednesday, we should give some credit to the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors for initially discussing actions they could take to make a difference. Ultimately, though, it was the Bucks garnering the most credit for their efforts Wednesday.
“The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association today announced that in light of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor today for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today’s three games — Bucks vs. Magic, Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers — have been postponed,” the NBA said in a statement. “Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled.”
It was an odd scene before the game between the Bucks and the Orlando Magic. At the start of warmups, the Magic were getting ready on the court, but the Bucks never surfaced from the locker room.
According to Shams Charania, NBA writer for The Atlantic, Orlando players were not accepting the “forfeit loss” to Milwaukee. This situation needs more delving into, but the Bucks could have closed out their first-round series with a win on Wednesday over the Magic.
The Rest of the NBA
When news broke about the Bucks-Magic game boycott, the other two remaining games on the schedule had no choice but to do the same. Game 5 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets and the meeting between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers were not played as planned.
Speaking of the Lakers, Charania dropped a bombshell tweet late on Wednesday night saying, “Sources: Every team besides Lakers and [Los Angeles] Clippers voted to continue playing. [LeBron] James said in meeting he wants owners to be more involved/take action.” It was also reported that when LeBron left the room, the Clippers players in attendance followed him out.
NBA insider David Aldridge also reported that the players’ meeting ended “ugly,” per a source. The player’s union will be there at the special Board of Governors session to salvage something out of the season’s remainder.
Wednesday’s events were shocking, considering the NBA just returned to play after the COVID-19 pandemic halted play for about four months. We’ll learn more about the fate of the league on Thursday, but all indications are that the season’s last games may have been played.
