In what has been an eventful 24 hours to say the least, filled with precedence and uncertainty, the NBA has decided to resume the 2020 playoffs (according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski) after that very entity being in jeopardy.
It was shortly before 4:00 p.m. ET yesterday when news broke that the Milwaukee Bucks had not come out onto the court for shootaround before Game 5 of their first-round playoff matchup against the Orlando Magic. This was a game where the Bucks could potentially advance, being up 3-1.
It then was revealed that the Eastern Conference title favorites were boycotting their game as a result of all of the social injustices going on in America. Needless to say, there has been a lot of that for centuries, and certainly this year alone when you think about Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and now Jacob Blake. Blake was the culmination of it. A man who was shot seven times in his back with his kids right in the back seat of his car in Kenosha, Wisconsin this past weekend.
As it was in the beginning of the summer some players had reservations about even coming to the bubble due to all the social injustices going on, but then when the NBA vowed to let players wear social change messages on the back of their jerseys and have “Black Lives Matter” painted on the court the players got on board and signed up to play. It was because they felt like the league cared.
Fast forward to this past weekend when that video of Blake dropped, players felt like nothing had changed. This is why they boycotted to play because the shooting showed that all that the NBA was doing perhaps was still not enough.
Little did we all know that the boycotting would have the domino effect that it had. It went from the Bucks vs. Magic game being postponed, to the two other remaining NBA games being postponed, to two MLB games being postponed to lastly WNBA games being postponed as well. It seemed for the second time in a year, the sports world was being put to a halt.
However, like any boycotting that takes place, it must be accompanied with a plan, otherwise it doesn’t hold much weight. So, the NBA and NBPA held a players meeting with coaches and a meeting amongst themselves last night to decide what would be next going forward. By the end of that meeting a poll was done that resulted in the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers voting to end the season, with the remaining 11 teams voting to continue. Reportedly this meeting got the best of some players as emotions were high. Even LeBron stormed out and the many others followed.
Like they say though, sleeping on it is best sometimes, right?
In the continuation of the meeting this morning players decided to continue the NBA playoffs. In addition to that though the NBA owners simultaneously had a meeting amongst themselves to decide what was best for the league and the players. So, you’ve got to think the two were intertwined for some players to go from voting to cancel the season to deciding to continue in less than 24 hours.
If they did come to some sort of the agreement about how get more involved with social justice issues going forward that information should become available in the near future according to Woj. Reportedly, there will also be some meetings going forward ironing out the details of when and how the playoff scheduling is affected by this boycott. It is expected that the three games slated for today will be postponed as well but that the teams will resume play this weekend.
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