‘Bigger than basketball.’ Bucks, NBA boycott playoff games over Kenosha police shooting
After talks intensified this week about teams boycotting playoff games in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday refused to come out of their locker room for Game 5 of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic.
According to multiple reports, including The Athletic, Bucks players came to the decision to boycott pregame, while the Magic wanted to play. After the Bucks didn’t emerge from the locker room, the Magic left the court, The Washington Post reported.
Soon after, the Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers-Portland Trail Blazers games — also scheduled for Wednesday — were postponed.
This powerful move by the Bucks prompted a significant reaction all over social media.
LeBron James tweeted: “F***THIS MAN!!!! WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT,” in support with the Bucks.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) tweeted its solidarity with the Bucks.
“We stand in solidarity with @Bucks and the communities across this nation that have been waiting for justice, decency, and accountability to rule the day.
Enough is enough.
#WeAreDoneDying”
The online sportsbook BetMGM also announced that it will refund all bets on the impacted markets following the NBA’s decision to postpone the games.
It was announced that the players will meet to discuss how they will proceed with the boycott. Every player has been invited, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported.
In MLB, the Milwaukee Brewers announced that they, too, are no longer playing their game against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday evening.
On the set of “Inside the NBA” on TNT, commentator and former NBA player Kenny Smith walked off the set on live television in solidarity as well.
“As a black man, as a former player, I think it’s best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight,” Smith said as he unplugged his microphone and walking off the set.
Chris Webber, Smith’s fellow TNT commentator and former NBA player, also talked about this moment in history.
“We know it won’t end tomorrow,” the former Sacramento King said. “We know that there’s been a million marches and nothing will change tomorrow. I know ‘vote,’ we keep hearing ‘vote’ — ‘everybody vote’ — but I’m here to speak about everybody who is marginalized.”
The WNBA also canceled its Wednesday games after an earlier decision to play. Elizabeth Williams of the Atlanta Dream spoke as a representative for all WNBA players.
“We stand in solidarity with our brothers in the NBA,” Williams said. “And will continue this conversation with our brothers and sisters across all leagues and look to take collective action.”
The Bucks’ owners issued a statement in support of the players’ decision to boycott the game. “Although we did not know beforehand, we would have wholeheartedly agreed.”
As a team, the Bucks spoke to the media regarding their decision to boycott the game.
“We are calling for justice for Jacob Blake and demand the officers be held accountable,” the statement said. “For this to occur, it is imperative for the Wisconsin State Legislature to reconvene after months of inaction and take up meaningful measures to address issues of police accountability, brutality and criminal justice reform.”
The full statement can be read here.
Police fired several shots into the back of Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, as he attempted to get into his SUV on Sunday afternoon, video shows.
Blake remains in a Milwaukee hospital, where his father said his son is paralyzed from the waist down.
The shooting set off protests in Kenosha, a city of about 100,000, and has reignited the national tinderbox of civil unrest that followed the death of George Floyd in police custody three months ago.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 3:57 PM with the headline "‘Bigger than basketball.’ Bucks, NBA boycott playoff games over Kenosha police shooting."