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NBA playoff games will resume on Saturday, but players are determined to keep the focus on fighting for social justice and racial equality with the help of club owners and the league.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Michele Roberts said in a joint statement Friday that “All parties have agreed to resume NBA playoff games on Saturday.”
“We look forward to the resumption of the playoffs and to continue working together, in Orlando and across all NBA team markets, to drive meaningful and sustainable change,” the NBA / NBPA statement said.
The players and the league agreed to form a social justice coalition to address a wide range of issues, including access to voting, promoting civic engagement, and police and criminal justice reform.
The announcement came on a third day of postponed NBA playoff games after the Milwaukee Bucks, caught off guard by the Jacob Blake police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, refused to go to the court Wednesday for a first-rate showdown. Eastern Conference round scheduled against Orlando in the NBA. COVID-19 quarantine bubble at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
The move led to postponements in support of social justice in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the women’s NBA, the National Hockey League and tennis.
Milwaukee is scheduled to take the court against Orlando on Saturday, with the possibility of advancing to the second round. Oklahoma City faces Houston and the Los Angeles Lakers face Portland in another potential game to close out the series.
Lakers superstar LeBron James was reportedly among a small group of players who consulted with former President Barack Obama to find a productive way forward after games were halted.
“As an avid basketball fan, President Obama speaks regularly with players and league officials,” Obama spokeswoman Katie Hill told the New York Times.
“When asked, he was happy to provide advice Wednesday night to a small group of NBA players looking to harness their massive platforms forever after their courageous and inspiring attack in the wake of Jacob Blake’s pitch.”
Hours of meetings, first between players as they discussed whether to continue the season and then between players, owners and league commissioner Adam Silver, resulted in the coalition and some concrete next steps.
Among the agreed initiatives, NBA owners whose teams own and control their stadiums will work with local election officials to use them as polling places for the 2020 U.S. General Election, allowing for secure in-person voting options. in communities that fear COVID-19.
If that option doesn’t work, NBA team owners will try to find another election-related use for the arena, such as voter registration or vote counting.
Oklahoma City star point guard Chris Paul, president of the players’ union since 2013, said the solidarity shown by the players is unprecedented in his experience.
“Fifteen years in this league and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Paul said of the hours of meetings where players expressed their feelings and looked for ways to use their public platform to combat racism and inequality in the world at large. “The voices that were heard, I will never forget.”
Players lobbied NBA club owners to take broader steps for social change, frustrated by video of Blake, a black man, shot in the back seven times by a police officer.
Paul choked when he told reporters about talking to Blake’s father, saying that NBA players, most of whom are black, were exhausted as similar stories continue to emerge in the United States, where death George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. in May it sparked protests across the country and beyond.
“We are all tired of seeing the same thing over and over again,” he said. “And everyone expects us to be fine because they pay us a lot of money.”
Ultimately, Paul said, players realized that continuing the season would give them greater visibility as they push for a change.
“We are going to keep playing, but we are also going to keep making sure our voices are heard.”
A moment to breathe
Silver had told league employees that action would be taken and expressed his full support for the players’ departure.
“I wholeheartedly support NBA and WNBA players and their commitment to shedding light on important social justice issues,” Silver wrote in an open letter to NBA employees posted on the league’s website.
Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers said that despite the emotionally charged atmosphere, the meetings between players and owners were not controversial.
“The key to this is that we all needed to take a breather,” Rivers said. “We needed a moment to breathe. It doesn’t escape me that George Floyd didn’t have that moment.
“But we did it. And we take it. “
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