The Milwaukee Bucks are taking a huge stand in response to the horrific shooting of Jacob Blake which took place in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday (Aug. 23).
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Bucks have decided to boycott game 5 against the Orlando Magic. “The Bucks players made this decision in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin, ultimately deciding that they wouldn’t leave the locker room for the start of Game 5 against Orlando,” he tweeted.
Reporter Malika Andrews shared video of the game balls being put away after the boycott became official.
Several NBA players have been vocal about the shooting this week. LeBron James did not have a problem expressing his feelings regarding the shooting.
“We see it over, and over, and over. If you watch the video, there was multiple moments where they could have tackled him,” James said. “They could’ve grabbed him. They could have done that. Why does it always have to get to a point where we see the guns firing? And his family’s there; the kids are there. It’s in broad daylight.”
“And if that video was not being taken by someone across the street, do we even know if we’d ever see that video?” he continued. “There’s talks that the cops didn’t even have their body cams on. That’s a possibility.”
Chris Paul also reacted to the incident, which has caused protests to erupt throughout Kenosha. “I just want to send my prayers out to Jacob Blake and their family,” he told reporters. “You know the things that we decided to come down here to play for and we said we gon’ speak on the social injustice and the things that continue to happen to our people is not right, so a win is good, but voting is real,” he said before challenging his fellow athletes to register to vote.
Check out the tweets below.
Listen to the Bucks’ official statement below: