NBA Postpones Games After Bucks Boycott Over James Blake Shooting

The NBA postponed its schedule of playoff games on Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted their game against the Orlando Magic in protest at the police shooting of an unarmed black man.

The action by the Wisconsin-based team follows the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the city of Kenosha, also in Wisconsin, on Sunday.

Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the Women’s NBA also postponed games, while two-times tennis Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka joined the protests by pulling out of a tournament after reaching the semi-finals.

The NBA said in a statement that all three games — Milwaukee versus Orlando, Houston Rockets versus Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers versus Portland Trail Blazers — would not take place Wednesday. 

“The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association today announced that in light of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor today for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today’s three games … have been postponed,” the statement said.

Each game will be rescheduled.