National Basketball Association players are ending their brief boycott of the playoffs after a three-hour meeting, during which Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James voted to abandon the season.
Players from the Milwaukee Bucks led the boycott on Wednesday after Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot seven times by Wisconsin police who said he was resisting arrest and reaching into his vehicle, where he had a knife. Players, coaches, and staff across the league joined in the protest, and all three playoff games scheduled for Wednesday were brought to a halt as rumors swirled that the season itself was in jeopardy.
“The NBA’s players have decided to resume the playoffs,” ESPN senior NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted Thursday afternoon.
The NBA’s players have decided to resume the playoffs, source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2020
Not all players were in agreement with the work stoppage, and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green lashed out at the idea that a playoff boycott would be an effective way to address police brutality in the United States. Green argued that by playing, players are afforded a bigger platform to speak their minds.
“The notion that athletes should just stop working but no one else in the world should stop is baffling to me,” Green tweeted. “Why stop doing the very thing that offers you the biggest platform to speak for those that look like me/a lot of us?”
Other players, including those on the Orlando Magic who were set to play against the Bucks on Wednesday, said they were frustrated with how the boycott took shape, arguing that the idea should have been cleared with the National Basketball Players Association before being hastily adopted leaguewide.
Although it is still unclear when games will resume, early reports suggest that the playoffs will restart on Friday.
