The NBA’s three postseason games scheduled for Wednesday will not take place because players decided to boycott following the shooting of Jacob Blake.
There were reports that teams were considering forfeiting games, and those turned out to be accurate when the Milwaukee Bucks chose not to take the court for tipoff for the first of three scheduled games. Once it became clear that the Bucks would not be participating in Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, the NBA chose to cancel all of the games, according to multiple outlets.
Players expressed frustration regarding police brutality following the shooting of Blake, a 29-year-old black father of three who was shot several times by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officers on Sunday, at about the time the league made the decision to reschedule the games. Blake is still alive, but his father said he is paralyzed.
“Some things are bigger than basketball. The stand taken today by the players and org shows 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,” Alex Lasry, the owner of the Bucks, said on social media.
ESPN reported that NBA owners were surprised at the boycotts.
LeBron James, whose Los Angeles Lakers were supposed to take on the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 5 on Wednesday night, said on Twitter, “F— THIS MAN!!!! WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT,” moments before the NBA’s announcement.
The Bucks are located about an hour from Kenosha, where Blake was shot.
Bucks players have had run-ins with law enforcement in the past.
One of the Bucks players, Sterling Brown, was tased and arrested after a parking violation at a Walgreens. A subsequent investigation led to several officers getting suspended and others retrained. Brown was not charged in the incident. Additionally, former Bucks player John Henson had the police called on him because he wanted to buy a Rolex from a jewelry store that suspected he was not an actual customer.
