National Basketball Association (NBA) units Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland’s Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers have boycotted games scheduled for Wednesday as basketball players protest against social injustice in the United States.
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The first step was taken by the Milwaukee Bucks team, which scheduled for the fifth round of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs with the Orlando Magic unit around 11:10 p.m.
Milwaukee basketball players decided to boycott the game after Jacob Blake was shot hard last weekend, ESPN journalist Adrian Vojnarowski reports. Blake suffered from police violence in Keno, Wisconsin, which was followed by riots. Two more people have lost their lives.
The Bucks team is based directly in Milwaukee, one of the largest cities in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, its defender Sterling Brown suffered from police violence two years ago.
Scene inside the main arena on the WWOS campus, where the Bucks and Magic were supposed to tip off 17 minutes ago. Bucks reportedly have boycotted the game. pic.twitter.com/t6UcUrxYSa
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) August 26, 2020
Shortly afterwards, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, which were due to play next Wednesday’s game, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland’s Trail Blazers, decided to take the same step, according to The Athletic journalist Shams Charania. The NBA has postponed all games scheduled for Wednesday, the league’s Twitter profile reported.
The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors units, which are due to meet on Thursday, have also discussed not going to the square, Vožnarovskis has previously reported. “Raptors” was one of the teams that considered going home after the incident, reports Sports Illustrated journalist Chris Manniks.
Shortly before the Bucks and Magic matches, its live television broadcast featured Magic basketball players who went to their locker rooms less than five minutes before the start of the match. There were only four referees left on the field, who soon left the hall without waiting for the players.
The Bucks team, on the other hand, did not leave its locker rooms at all, but later spoke to the league management, ESPN journalists Rachel Nichols and Adrian Vojnarnovsky reported.
NBA players have had the opportunity to go to the court with shirts with various slogans of social justice throughout the final tournament. In addition, the warm-up shirts of all basketball players read “The lives of blacks matter” [“#BlackLivesMatter”]. Most of the league has been advocating for social justice for several months now, also participating in various campaigns before the final tournament.
