The NBA postponed all of its playoff games scheduled for Wednesday, after the Milwaukee Bucks chose to not play Game 5 of their playoff series vs. the Orlando Magic in wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin. But it appears that this may not just be a one-day thing, and at least two teams reportedly don’t want to play for the rest of the playoffs.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers “have voted to boycott the NBA season.” Charania adds that every other team wants to continue playing. LeBron James walked out of the players’ meeting according to Charania, with the Lakers and Clippers following behind him.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that it was “more of a polling, than a final vote,” and “the resumption of the playoffs remains still up in the air.”
Whatever the case, it at least appears that there will be no NBA games on Thursday, according to Wojnarowski.
Discussions on continuing season will extend into tomorrow, sources tell ESPN, but appears unlikely the three playoff games on Thursday will be played. "Everyone is still too emotional," one high-ranking source tells ESPN. "There needs to be more time to come together on this."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2020
Wojnarowski adds that the players have another meeting on Thursday morning.
But the fact that the Lakers and Clippers don’t want to play — “official” vote or not — is a very, very huge deal. These are the top two NBA title favorites, featuring some of the sport’s biggest stars in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George. If the Lakers and Clippers aren’t a part of things in the bubble, they might as well shut it down.
The Lakers were scheduled to play the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night, and have a 3-1 lead in the series.
The Clippers have a 3-2 lead in their series against the Dallas Mavericks, and are currently scheduled to play Game 6 on Thursday night. But don’t expect that game to happen as scheduled, and it would seem that there’s a very real chance it doesn’t happen at all.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.