The entire Milwaukee Bucks NBA team refused to take the court in their playoff game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, in protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake — a black man — in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The league has postponed the rest of the night’s playoff games in reaction to the Bucks’ decision.
Game 5 in the Bucks’ series against the Magic was originally scheduled for 4 p.m. ET. Ahead of the anticipated tip-off, Orlando players were on the floor taking practice shots, but returned to their locker rooms after it became clear that Milwaukee players would not be joining them.
Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry voiced his support of the players’ decision to strike in protest, tweeting, “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.”
The NBA then announced it would postpone all of the games that had been slated for the evening, issuing a statement saying, “The NBA and the NBPA today announced that in light of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor today for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today’s three games – MIL-ORL, HOU-OKC and LAL-POR have been postponed. Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled.” – READ MORE
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