The Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers have indicated they are in favor of not playing the rest of the 2019-20 NBA season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Their decision comes after the players held an all-hands-on-deck meeting late Wednesday night. Any other team though signaling that they would rather continue playing.
In a dramatic scene, LeBron James led the Lakers and Clippers out of the room, while Miami veteran Udonis Haslem claimed that the season could not go on without her, for Charania. The meeting ended according to “ugly” David Aldridge of The Athletic.
To open the emotional meeting, players are talking to the family of Jacob Blake, the Kenosha man, Wisconsin who was shot seven times in the back on Sunday, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. As of now, there are no concrete plans ahead, but at least it appears that Thursday’s playoff games will be postponed, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
Earlier in the day, in response to Blake’s shooting, and the deaths of two protesters from vigilante violence on Tuesday night, the Milwaukee Bucks chose not to take the floor for Game 5 of their first-round playoff series with the Orlando Magic. A short time later, the rest of the games of the day were postponed. While players about the league were supported on social media, there was reported frustration about the way they blinded the rest of the league, for Charania.
The NBA will hold a special meeting of the Board of Governors on Thursday morning to discuss continue the season will be continued. In addition, players will hold another meeting at the same time, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
With emotions running high, the players were unable to reach a collective decision late on Wednesday. The hope is that Thursday’s meeting will be more productive now that everyone has a chance to express their feelings and frustrations about how things are going, both in the bubble and in the country in general.
“There were a lot of emotions in the meeting instead of coming up with a solution, but I think tomorrow will be better,” an unnamed player told veteran reporter Jeff Goodman. “I’m sure we’ll play, but tomorrow’s a big meeting.”
