In March, the NBA postponed their season indefinitely. That led to the Orlando Bubble. Now, the NBA season seems to be in jeopardy after just a handful of playoff games. An extreme domino effect sent ripples through not just the NBA, but the entire wide world of sports in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin. It all started with a boycott of an NBA playoff game.
Boycott Threatens NBA Season, Other Major Sports
The First Domino; The Milwaukee Bucks NBA Boycott
The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t come out for warmups prior to their Game 5 bout with the Orlando Magic. Not long after, news broke that the Bucks were boycotting the game as a protest against police brutality.
The Milwaukee Bucks… pic.twitter.com/6r4nvQLkvw
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) August 26, 2020
Within minutes, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets announced they would follow suit, as did the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers. The players called for an emergency meeting within the Orlando Bubble.
The NBA took official action and postponed all games that were set to take place Wednesday night.
The Fallout
Immediately following the move, social media caught word of the shift. No matter if users agreed with the move or not, it was forcibly brought to their attention. If the protest went no further than that, it would have still been felt across the nation and perhaps the world.
But it did go further.
Every word Chris Webber says here should be listened to. pic.twitter.com/L2mKUqEHL1
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 26, 2020
The Milwaukee Bucks held a team meeting a released a statement demanding the Wisconsin state legislature immediately convene to discuss how to better hold law enforcement officials accountable. The team did not comment on what moves they would make in the immediate future. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the team was in contact with Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes during their meeting.
Wojnarowski later reported the NBA would call a special Board of Governors meeting in response. The meeting is scheduled to take place Thursday morning. The fate of the entire NBA season may hang in the balance of the meeting.
The Ripple Effect
Once the news got out, boycotts spread to Major League Baseball as well, where the Milwaukee Brewers refused to play their Wednesday night contest. The WNBA followed the NBA’s lead and decided not to play either. This boycott could quickly spill over into the entire realm of professional sports.
In unprecedented times (for lack of a better, less-frequently used term), there are unprecedented actions. In a world ravaged by a global pandemic and ongoing protests for social justice, the return of sports was the first step toward a return to normalcy. But perhaps the world is not yet ready for normalcy until real change takes place on a massive scale.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
