The NBA world salutes the Milwaukee Bucks for boycott of Game 5
The Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their series with the Magic in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Over the last few days, NBA players have been talking about what to do in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake — a Wisconsin man who was shot by police eight times and is now paralyzed from the waist down.
On Wednesday, they figured it out. The Milwaukee Bucks chose to boycott game 5 against the Orlando Magic in protest of police brutality.
The game’s tip-off was set for 4:10 p.m. EST. When time came for the game to start, the Bucks refused to leave the locker room. Top NBA executives posted up outside of their locker room, according to reports, before they were eventually told the Bucks weren’t going to play.
It’s unclear what happens next. Normally, when a team fails to appear for a game they forfeit automatically and are fined, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. But it’s unclear if that will apply to Milwaukee here.
And the Magic aren’t accepting a forfeit.
One thing here is for sure — we haven’t quite seen anything like this in recent years. This is an entire team refusing to play as a means to stand up for what they believe in. We’ve seen protest in sports before, but rarely do we have moments like this.
NBA players applauded the move by the Bucks after getting the news, including LeBron James.
*WARNING: There is some NSFW language included in these tweets*
NBA fans reacted the same way.
Good on the Bucks. This is what taking a stand looks like.