The Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic have become the first teams in NBA history to cancel an entire game in protest, and the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors might not be far behind them.
Tuesday evening, players from the Celtics and Raptors met to discuss potential responses to the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, Wisconsin police, putting a boycott of Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on the table.
On Wednesday, the Bucks beat them to it.
Instead of playing their Game 5 of their respective first-round series, Milwaukee decided to boycott the game, which Bucks guard George Hill confirmed with The Undefeated’s Marc Spears.
Bucks guard George Hill says to @TheUndefeated his team is not playing against Orlando tonight in light of shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc. “We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,” Hill to @TheUndefeated.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) August 26, 2020
“We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,” said Hill, whose teammate Sterling Brown experienced racial profiling and police brutality at the hands of local officers in nearby Milwaukee.
While the Magic seemed unsupportive of the move according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Bucks leaned into it, even attempting to reach the Attorney General of Wisconsin from the locker room to underscore their point.
Soon afterwards, the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder decided to join them, with all games scheduled for August 26th postponed by the NBA.
The NBA has postponed its playoff games today.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 26, 2020
With the Celtics and Raptors poised to pick up the torch tomorrow evening, it seems likely that game may well be boycotted by the players from those teams as well.
Between the emotional distress, anger, and working their way through what comes next while they are navigating postseason aspirations, COVID-19, and being away from family, friends, and similarly-affected communities back home, NBA players across the league have much to think about.
Let’s do our best to support them in whatever they decide in this terrible and historic moment, the first major U.S. sport to see a games canceled in protest.
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