This week, the sports world stood still when the Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott their Game 5 battle of the 2020 NBA playoffs against the Orlando Magic by walking off the court. Even though the Bucks had a chance to win the series, they decided to protest the game in order to raise awareness of the recent shooting of Jacob Blake. 

This trickled into other leagues, from the NHL to WNBA and MLS.

The anger and emotion behind the shooting of Jacob Blake spread like wildfire, with many athletes speaking out about the situation, including Lebron James, Tyrann Mathieu, and Jamal Adams. These athletes showed frustration on social media concerning the shootings and deaths of Black Americans. 

“I’m scared for my parents’ lives. I’m scared for my nephews and niece’s lives. I’m scared for my brothas lives. I’m scared for my sisters lives. I’m scared for my damn family man!,” Jamal Adams said on Twitter following the recent shooting of Jacob Blake. 

Even though professional sports, as a whole, recently came back from the COVID-19 shutdown, once again, for just a moment, the world was without sports until their message was made loud and clear. 

The entire Milwaukee Bucks organization expressed how they felt about the shooting of Blake and what they planned on doing instead of playing in their game against the Magic

“Over the last few days in our home state of Wisconsin, we’ve seen the horrendous video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back seven times by a police officer in Kenosha, and the additional shooting of protesters. Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball”, the Milwaukee Bucks told reporters in a statement made before their game with the Magic. 

Athletes like Lebron James were one of many names that were mentioned with rumors involved with the NBA player meeting that was happening within the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida. 

Steven A. Smith was one of the few people who told the details of the meeting.

“Lebron James ultimately decided to depart from the meeting according to my sources because he was incredibly frustrated. His question was, “Ok, you guys elected to do this. You don’t inform us that you were about to do this. It’s something that should’ve been done now. Where do we go from here,” Smith said in an interview with Sports Center following the conclusion of the NBA player meeting. 

Some athletes feel like the NBA playoffs won’t mean anything until the people of the community are safe in their own skin. Some teams were willing to risk everything for the benefit of people. 

“Players from the Los Angeles Lakers as well as the Los Angeles Clippers voted to boycott the remainder of the 2019-2020 season,” Shams Charnia told ESPN reporters after Wednesday’s meeting with the NBA players. 

Adrian Wojnarowski informed ESPN that the athletes came to a decision Thursday about what to do with the remainder of the season during their second meeting in the bubble. 

“Their intention is to resume the playoffs. There will be more discussion about when the games will start again, could be as soon as tomorrow” Wojnarowski said in an interview with ESPN following the second meeting of the NBA players in the Orlando bubble. 

In order to bring attention to the social issues that have been plaguing the country for far too long, members of the sports world are making a strong statement to try to bring an end to the wrongful shootings of Black Americans.

—–

If there are issues with this article, report it here.