The Lakers and Clippers voted to end the season during a Wednesday meeting, while WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer have postponed Wednesday games to fight systemic racism.
- Aug 27, 2020
AceShowbiz - The fight to end police brutality has widely affected pro-sports. In their boldest move yet to end systemic racism, athletes have taken a stand against violence on black community by boycotting the games.
On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for a playoff game against the Orlando Magic to protest the Jacob Blake shooting by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. NBA later announced postponement of three other games scheduled for Wednesday.
Following the announcement, the players and coaches inside the bubble had a meeting to discuss next steps during which LeBron James expressed his desire that team owners are more involved and take action. He then walked out of the meeting.
Lakers forward LeBron and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard also spoke out on behalf of their respective teams, which voted against resuming the postseason. The other teams voted to continue with the rest of the season, but many cast doubt that the season could go on without Lakers and Clippers.
The players will have another meeting scheduled for Thursday at 11 A.M. ET, as ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said it's unlikely that the games will resume on Thursday. "Everyone is still too emotional," one high-ranking source tells the sports news outlet. "There needs to be more time to come together on this."
This NBA boycott was soon followed by WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, which have also postponed all Wednesday games. In the WNBA, Washington Mystics players arrived for their game against the Atlanta Dream in T-shirts that spelled out Jacob Blake's name with holes in the back that appeared to represent bullet holes. Some WNBA players, including Renee Montgomery of the Atlanta Dream, have already opted out of their seasons specifically to work toward social justice causes.
MLB called off three games between the Milwaukee Brewers vs. the Cincinnati Reds, the San Diego Padres vs. the Seattle Mariners, and the San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, while MLB postponed five matches scheduled for Wednesday.
On the same day, tennis player Naomi Osaka also announced her decision to drop out of her semifinal match on Thursday at the Western & Southern Open in New York City as she said that "watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach."
