NBA season reportedly up in the air after 'ugly' NBA players' meeting on boycott

(Image credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

published 27 August 2020

Led by the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA postponed all three playoff games Wednesday in a boycott prompted by the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It appears likely that Thursday's games are off, too, as the NBA Board of Governors is hold an emergency meeting. The NBA players, quarantined together in a tournament bubble in Florida, met privately Wednesday night, according to multiple reports, to discuss what to do next. It was evidently a tense, emotional gathering.

Both Los Angeles teams, the Lakers and the Clippers, voted to boycott the remainder of the season, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported, then walked out, led by Lakers star LeBron James. All the other teams voted to play on, he added. But it isn't clear what that means in practice. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski's reported that the move by the Clippers and Lakers "was considered more of a polling, than a final vote," though "the resumption of the playoffs remains still up in the air."

Other sports leagues — MLB, WNBA, Major League Soccer, and tennis — suspended their games in solidarity with the NBA. "We keep loving this country and this country doesn't love us back," Clippers coach Doc Rivers lamented Tuesday night. LeBron James tweeted in all-caps Wednesday: "F--k this man!!!! We demand change. Sick of it."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.