| There is a chance that what happened on Wednesday didn’t even surprise you much, because after all, this is 2020, and with “normal” barely still existing as a concept, we’ve at least partly lost our ability to be shocked. As the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to sit out the first playoff game of the day in peaceful protest morphed into a wider boycott that incorporated both the rest of the NBA and several other sports, the realization quickly dawned: this was really happening. Yet the lingering reach of an afternoon and evening where sports stepped to the forefront of the national political discussion – by taking a step back – will not be quickly forgotten. Make no mistake, even as it passes in real time, this is a moment that will form part of the tale of these troubled days as they go down in history. There was no NBA basketball on Wednesday, and the same goes for Thursday, as the three scheduled playoff games were postponed. |
It was reported earlier Thursday that after recent discussions, NBA players have decided to resume the playoffs. However, there is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding what happens next. That is because many of the players that make up the best league in the sport found a breaking point, one stark enough to make them play the strongest card in their hand. They found it in the shooting last weekend of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, located about 40 minutes outside of Milwaukee. The Bucks made the first move, withdrawing from Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic in the early tipoff slot. And then, it snowballed from there. Before long, Wednesday’s other playoff games, the entire Thursday slate, three Major League Baseball matchups, five Major League Soccer fixtures, a WNBA triple-header and Thursday’s action at the Western and Southern Open tennis tournament had been called off. The idea is to sit down in the hope that we, the public, instead talk about, deal with and move towards fixing social injustice and race inequality – and the athletes are conveying it in the most forceful way they know how. |
“For these players to be walking away from the game right now says so much,” former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall said on FS1’s First Things First. “Because it is not in our DNA not to play – because the field, the tennis court, the basketball court: this is our sanctuary.” The boycotts are both a call to action and a wish to be part of meaningful change. The Bucks, while sitting in their locker room in the Florida bubble, spent time on telephone calls with Wisconsin attorney general Josh Kaul and lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes. The points the players brought up stemmed from a topic that not everyone wants to address. This is a divided country, with complicated layers to it. Wherever you stand, at least consider this. They cared enough to risk what they have worked for and did so knowing there would be precisely the kind of backlash that inevitably followed. This column doesn’t seek to take a side, but instead to look at this for what it is – a movement and a time where something significant far beyond sports is taking place. Collectively, NBA players wanted the country to know that they are fed up and angry and frustrated and frightened, and if you don’t know it after this then you’re not paying attention. |
“They have said ‘this is worth it, we are willing to sacrifice,’” FOX Sports Wisconsin’s Bucks reporter Zora Stephenson said. “The beauty of this country is the ability to stand up for what you believe in. Whether you believe or agree with what people are standing up for, you have to respect when people take a stance on something – and don’t just talk about it but act upon it.” Yet it is hard to find a united message, even when the intent is the same. NBA players are hurt and furious in unison, but there remains disagreement on how best to proceed. “They aren’t going to shut up, and for now they aren’t even going to dribble,” wrote Yahoo Sports national columnist Dan Wetzel. “At least not while emotions are raw, the opportunity is rare, and the belief they can do so much more than just be basketball players is at hand.” |
An urgent NBA players meeting was convened on Wednesday night and was followed by another on Thursday morning. At the earlier one, the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, the two teams along with the Bucks considered most likely to win the title, voted to pull the plug on the season entirely. Most other teams did not agree, and LeBron James reportedly left the meeting early. It is hard to know what happens from here. Feelings in the NBA bubble are heightened enough right now that nothing should be discounted. Having taken a seismic step, some players will certainly feel that there is cause for another, stronger one, while others may stress that the greatest power right now is to get back to playing. What the players now know is that they have the ability to get people to sit up and take notice. This is a crude calculation, but there was a combined social media following of more than 400 million in the room when these NBA meetings were taking place. That’s the force that they are trying to tap into. Athletes are not politicians, yet they are beginning to understand there is a certain leverage, and that the power comes in their visibility. No one is going to tell them to stick to sports, or if they do, they’re not going to listen. |
Here’s what others have said … Chris Broussard, FOX Sports: “I’ve never been more proud of Black athletes in my adult life, and the white athletes who supported them. I have longed for the day when athletes would use their power and their position on behalf of the masses of Black people. I think that’s what was done yesterday. I have nothing but praise and respect for what these players did.” Shannon Sharpe, Undisputed: “I am so proud of the NBA players, but this is not what they signed up for. A lot of these guys worked their entire lives to be in this position … but they were willing to sacrifice that. This is not a preseason. This is not an exhibition. They put a hold to the playoffs.” Cathy Engelbert, WNBA Commissioner: “We have to support our players. We know that this is a very emotional time, a very divisive time in our country and what we’re trying to do is unify and come together with them to help facilitate some conversations with social justice activists to help them strategize about how they can have an impact because we all want to have an impact … the players are always thinking, and we are always supporting and helping to facilitate what they want to stand up for, and I think there is no time like the present to support them.” |
