More on Players Boycott
Adrian Wojnarowski: Inside the locker room, the Milwaukee Bucks were on a conference call with Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, sources tell ESPN.
Keith Pompey: #NBA coaches in the bubble were informed to attend the all players meeting at 8pm tonight, according to a source. This is the first players only meeting that head coaches and assistant coaches have been invited to since they’ve been in the bubble.
Kyle Goon: One of the members of a coaching staff here in the bubble tells me he's ready to go home if the players decide not to play out the rest of the season: "It's just basketball. ... The players are using the platform the right way, getting people's attention."
Chris Haynes: Yahoo Sources: There’s a sizable amount of players advocating to finish the season out since sacrifices were made to enter the bubble, believing the NBA platform is a useful resource in this social climate.
Jeff Passan: Following the cancellation of the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds game tonight, more teams are discussing the possibility of not playing, sources tell ESPN. Among those currently discussing it: the Seattle Mariners, who have the most Black players of any team in MLB.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Emotions are raw, players were already worn out of bubble environment prior to the Jacob Blake shooting and sources say discussions within teams are ongoing about postponing tomorrow's three games too -- and beyond. "The season is in jeopardy," one vet player here tells ESPN.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Tonight's meeting with players will go a long way toward determining how the players will move forward with rest of season, sources tell ESPN.
Tim Reynolds: Players will meet tonight, as some are already reporting. A player inside the bubble tells AP, when asked if he thinks the season will continue: "I've heard yes and I've heard no."
Jeanie Buss: I was excited to see us play - and hopefully close out our series - tonight. But I stand behind our players, today and always. After more than 400 years of cruelty, racism and injustice, we all need to work together to say enough is enough. #JusticeForJacobBlake #WeHearYou
Adrian Wojnarowski: Every NBA player is invited to join the meeting in The Bubble at 8 PM to discuss how they'll proceed from today's boycotts, sources tell @Zach Lowe and me.
Chris Mannix: Bucks have been in their locker room for nearly two hours. Bags have been packed and brought to the bus. An oversized white board was just wheeled in.
Orlando Magic PR: STATEMENT FROM THE @OrlandoMagic AND THE DeVOS FAMILY:
Tim Kawakami: In the middle of all this, just recorded a long-planned podcast conversation with Warriors president Bob Myers, who said he absolutely respects the position of the players who are boycotting these playoff games. Podcast will post tomorrow AM.
Ben Golliver: Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo briefly emerges from locker room wearing a “Black Lives Matter” shirt. Bucks team has yet to leave arena more than an hour after staging boycott.
Gary Washburn: Many #Bucks players are still in their locker room, some still in full uniform or shooting shirts and pre-game gear. They have not left the arena.
Nicolas Batum: ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻
PJ Dozier: It’s a difference between them hearing us and them listening! Time for sum to shake
Shams Charania: NBA players have called for a meeting tonight in Orlando to determine next steps, sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium.
Adrian Wojnarowski: The NBA, owners and front offices didn't see this wave of player boycotts coming today. Hours ago, they all expected to be playing these games tonight. This is a pivot point for the NBA and professional sports in North America.
Brian Mahoney: NBA announces that all three playoff games tonight are postponed. Landmark day in the league.
Sean Cunningham: NBA says all three games will be rescheduled
Mark Medina: And as for tomorrow’s games, NBA doesn’t have answers at this point on where those games stand. FWIW, Clippers, Mavs and Jazz said this afternoon they didn’t have discussions about boycotting games. But this is obviously fluid
Shams Charania: The Lakers and Trail Blazers are sitting Game 5 of series, sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium. All three NBA games will not be played as players sit in wake of Jacob Blake shooting.
Ben Golliver: Bucks players not expected to talk to media assembled at the arena on Wednesday. Magic players have already departed arena. NBA will issue statement soon, per league spokesman. Not clear yet whether game will be a forfeit or postponement.
Chris Mannix: Celtics, from the official Twitter account.
Chris Haynes: Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers are leaning toward boycotting Game 5 tonight, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
Adrian Wojnarowski: The Lakers have a team meeting soon to discuss the possbility of boycotting Game 5 tonight against Portland, sources tell ESPN.
Jonathan Feigen: Rockets and Thunder game will not be played, source said.
Gary Washburn: Orlando #Magic players are headed back to their hotel. #BoycottNBA #BlackLivesMatter
Marc J. Spears: Magic center Nikola Vucevic and guard Evan Fournier decline comment.
Shams Charania: Rockets-OKC players are planning to boycott Game 5 of their series, sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium.
Ben Golliver: Bucks GM Jon Horst: “We’re not coming out for awhile. There will be a team statement.” Unclear if Bucks will address media regarding boycott on Wednesday.
Alex Lasry: Some things are bigger than basketball. The stand taken today by the players and org shows that we’re fed up. Enough is enough. Change needs to happen. I’m incredibly proud of our guys and we stand 100% behind our players ready to assist and bring about real change
Shams Charania: Bucks players are in locker room attempting to reach the attorney general of Wisconsin, Josh Kaul, sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium. Magic players are leaving the arena soon -- not accepting the Bucks‘ forfeit.
Pau Gasol: Proud of my brothers✊🏻 @Milwaukee Bucks @NBA #NecessaryGoodTrouble #EnoughIsEnough pic.twitter.com/sYOos4prW8
Moe Harkless: ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾
Bobby Marks: There is “failure to appear” language in the Operations Manual. - forfeiture of the game - up to $5M fine That doesn’t mean it will be applied in the case of Milwaukee boycotting G5. Like everything this year, we are dealing with situations that have never happened before.
Adrian Wojnarowski: The Milwaukee Bucks have decided to boycott Game 5, source tells ESPN.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Top NBA executives are outside of the Milwaukee locker room, but haven't gone inside, per source.
Shams Charania: The Milwaukee Bucks players are in serious conversations about sitting Game 5 of series against Orlando, sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium.
Adrian Wojnarowski: The Milwaukee Bucks still haven't come out to the court for Game 6 with the Orlando Magic and there's been some discussion within the Bucks about a boycott, sources tell @Malika Andrews and me. NBA officials have gone into the Milwaukee locker room.
Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, who's been in Orlando for the duration of the NBA restart, has observed a group of players devastated by this latest act of police violence against a Black American. "I think it has broken the spirit of every player inside this bubble," Mannix said Tuesday night on NBC Sports Boston. "I know that sounds like hyperbole, but I went to a handful of practices today, I watched it on Zoom calls with the others, and just being around these guys, you could tell that what happened to Jacob Blake has broken them."
After Blake's shooting Sunday, Mannix said, players are wondering if those concerns were valid. "What it's gotten them to start thinking more and more about was the merit in coming to Orlando to begin with," Mannix said. "As we know, Kyrie Irving spearheaded a phone call amongst nearly 100 players where the message was, 'Guys, don't go. Don't participate in something that could become a distraction.' And one thing Jaylen Brown said was that he felt like this had become a distraction -- that the attention had been taken off the Black Lives Matter movement over the past week or so as the playoffs have picked up."
Andrew Greif: As Celtics, Raptors mull their choice, LAC's Marcus Morris says he'll back their decision. "I’m all for whatever the Celtics and Toronto do. We have to take a stand at some point ... [If] guys don’t want to play, I’m right there with them and I stand for whatever they got going."
Harrison Wind: Michael Malone says his team has had zero talks about potentially boycotting games. "If our players came to me tomorrow and said we don't feel comfortable playing, obviously I would support that."
Mark Medina: Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert on Celtics and Raptors possibly boycotting their game: "It's great to have those conversations. Obviously all the messages we try to put out there and things we do to make an impact are great. But apparently, things aren't changing."
Ira Winderman: Erik Spoelstra, on talk of boycott at Disney, "I"m just going to observe and see what's going to happen over the next 24 hours."
