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Tim BontempsESPN
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Milwaukee Bucks‘ decision to not take the floor for Game 5 of their first round playoff series against the Orlando Magic promoted the NBA to postpone all three games scheduled for Wednesday.
The NBA said the three Game 5s (Bucks-Magic, Houston Rockets–Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers–Portland Trail Blazers) would be rescheduled.
“We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,” Bucks guard George Hill told ESPN’s Marc Spears, in explaining his team’s decision.
Milwaukee is about 40 miles north of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the city where 29-year-old Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times by police on Sunday, his father, also named Jacob Blake, has said. Blake was shot as he attempted to enter the driver’s side door of his vehicle with three of his children inside. Video of the shooting was distributed on social media.
The Bucks, who were scheduled to play the Magic at AdventHealth Arena here inside the NBA’s bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, refused to leave their locker room before the game, as league officials huddled outside of it.
Some players, including center Brook Lopez, worked out before the game. But when it came time for the team to take the floor at around 15 minutes before tipoff, as is customary for an NBA game, only Orlando’s players, as well as the referees working Wednesday’s game, took the floor. There was no activity at all from Milwaukee’s side of the court.
Then, with just a few minutes left on the game clock before the scheduled tip time, the Magic players slowly walked off the court and returned to their locker room, leaving only the four game referees out there. Eventually, Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s vice president of refereeing and training, told them to leave the floor, as well.
Shortly thereafter, the game balls were removed, as were the various accessories on both sides — like the name plates for each player’s assigned seat and the cushions on which some of them sit — were removed from each of the bench areas.
The only Bucks to leave the locker room at all were Hill and All-Star Khris Middleton, who used the bathroom and returned to it. There was also one member of the Milwaukee video staff that came out and gathered some computers and wires that were set up on the team’s bench, and returned to the back of the arena.
After the Bucks made their decision to sit Wednesday, players from around the league tweeted their support. LeBron James tweeted in all capital letters: “F— THIS MAN!!!! WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT.”
Others to tweet from inside the bubble included the Utah Jazz‘s Donovan Mitchell and the Denver Nuggets‘ Jamal Murray.
WE DEMAND CHANGE! SALUTE @Bucks ✊🏾🙏🏾🗣
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) August 26, 2020
WE DEMAND JUSTICE!!!
— Jamal Murray (@BeMore27) August 26, 2020
They also were shown support by Alex Lasry, a senior vice president with the team and the son of owner Marc Lasry.
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
— Alex Lasry (@AlexanderLasry) August 26, 2020
The first talk of a possible boycott of a game came from the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, when Raptors guard Fred VanVleet first expressed the possibility during his media availability. Players from both teams had a players-only meeting Tuesday night to discuss the possibility of a boycott, and are planning to meet again Wednesday night to further discuss the matter. Both teams are staying at the same hotel, in addition to preparing for the potential start of their playoff series Thursday night.
From the moment the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association agreed to create the bubble, everyone is now housed at the Walt Disney World Resort and attempt to restart the season, attempts to address the ongoing issues of police brutality, social justice and racial inequality in American society have been top of mind. The words “Black Lives Matter” were painted on all three of the courts used here at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex to play the games, and players are wearing “Black Lives Matter” warm-up shirts before every game. The vast majority of players around the league are wearing one of a series of words or phrases that were agreed upon to promote positive change in society.
Coaches, players and referees are kneeling in solidarity during the national anthems before the games are played. Coaches are wearing pins that say “Coaches Against Racial Inequality” on them, and both the players and coaches have actively used their time with the media to speak about issues outside of basketball.
But as the week has progressed, there has been a palpable sense of frustration among players around the league about the fact that incidents like what happened to Blake on Sunday continue to take place.
None voiced that more than Hill, who was blunt in talking about what happened in Kenosha after Milwaukee’s Game 4 win here Monday afternoon.
“It’s just sickening,” Hill said, when asked about Blake’s shooting. “It’s heartless. It’s a f—ed-up situation. Like I said, you’re supposed to look at the police to protect and serve. Now, it’s looked at harass or shoot. To almost take a guy’s life. Thank God he’s still alive.
“I know the cops are probably upset he’s still alive, because I know they surely tried to kill him. But to almost take a man’s life, especially in front of one’s kids, that wasn’t resisting, in his back at point-blank range, is a heartless and gutless situation. We need some justice for that.”
When asked what the Bucks could do from inside the bubble, Hill didn’t mince his words, either.
“We can’t do anything,” he said, flatly. “First of all, we shouldn’t have even came to this damn place, to be honest. I think coming just here took all the focal points off what the issues are. But we’re here, so it is what it is. We can’t do anything from right here, but I think definitely, when it’s all settled, some things have to be done.
“I think this world has to change. I think our police department has to change. Us as society has to change. And, right now we’re not seeing any of that. Lives are being taken, as we speak, day in and day out, and there’s no consequence or accountability for it, and that’s what has to change.”
The Bucks are also intimately familiar with the issue of police brutality. In 2018, after Bucks guard Sterling Brown was cited for a parking violation, he was hit with a Taser by Milwaukee police.