LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers have voted to abandon the NBA season in protest at the latest US police shooting of a black man, multiple reports said on Wednesday.
ESPN, The Athletic and Yahoo Sports all reported that the Lakers and Clippers called for the 2019-20 season to be scrapped in the wake of Jacob Blake's shooting in Wisconsin on Sunday.
Bucks’ boycott
The Lakers and Clippers’ vote to end the season came at an emergency meeting of all the teams left in the NBA playoffs. The meeting followed Milwaukee Bucks' boycott of its first round playoff game against Orlando Magic earlier in the day.
That decision prompted the NBA to call off all three playoff games scheduled for Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how the season would proceed following Wednesday's meeting, or whether the Lakers and Clippers — the two strongest sides in the Western Conference — would remain in the playoffs despite voting to halt the season.
James’ tweet
The Lakers' James had earlier tweeted angrily over the shooting of Blake, who was shot seven times in the back by police as he got into a car carrying his three children.
“WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT,” James wrote on Twitter.
