The NBA season could be ending early after both the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers voted to boycott the season in a meeting held on Wednesday (Aug. 26). The vote came after all six NBA teams boycotted their Wednesday night games to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the meeting began emotionally, with players speaking with Blake’s family. NBA reporter Jeff Goodman tweeted that one unnamed player described the meeting as “emotional” and “heated.”
“It doesn’t look good right now, but we’re all hoping that everyone will sleep on it and maybe we can figure it out tomorrow because most of us still want to find a way to play,” the athlete said.
A Sports Illustrated reporter tweeted that some players felt only boycotting one game felt “meaningless” and believed the entire season was necessary. According to The Athletic, the session ended “ugly” with LeBron James demanding meaningful action from team owners and leading both the Lakers and Clippers out of the meeting early. The outlet reports that the other NBA teams voted to continue the season.
“There were a lot of emotions in the meeting rather than coming up with a solution, but I think tomorrow will be better,” another player reportedly told Goodman. “I’m confident we will play, but tomorrow is a big meeting.”
The NBA is set to hold a special Board of Governors meeting on Thursday (Aug. 27) to discuss the future of the season. Players will also hold their own separate meeting at the same time, ESPN reports. Nonetheless, all playoff games scheduled for Thursday (Aug. 27) are expected to be postponed.
The Milwaukee Bucks were the first to take a stance yesterday when they did not take the floor for Game 5 of their first-round series against Orlando Magic. Several NBA players, including James, Chris Paul and Donovon Mitchell, have spoken out since Blake was shot at least seven times in the back by Kenosha police officers on Sunday (Aug. 23).
“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 in a press conference. “They could’ve grabbed him… 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.”
“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 added.
See Goodman’s tweet below.