On Wednesday, the National Basketball Association chose to not play playoff games after the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks chose to stay in their locker room instead of play Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic. The Bucks chose to boycott their game because of the recent violence in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin — 35 miles south of Milwaukee — that erupted after non-compliant sexual-assault suspect Jacob Blake was shot by police.
The league is currently in the playoff stage of their restarted season, which was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league is currently playing all games in Orlando, Florida, in what they’re referring to as a “bubble” to keep from spreading the coronavirus.
“The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association today announced that in light of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today’s three games — Bucks vs. Magic; Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder; and Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trailblazers — have been postponed,” the league announced in a statement. “Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled.”
“Some things are bigger than basketball,” tweeted Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry. “The stand taken today by the players and the 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.”
The Bucks’ expected opponent, the Orlando Magic, came out in full support of the Bucks and the NBA. “Today we stand united with the NBA Office, the National Basketball Players Association, the Milwaukee Bucks and the rest of the league condemning bigotry, racial injustice and the unwarranted use of violence by police against people of color,” the team said in a statement.
The NBA’s marquee player, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, addressed the situation by claiming that every black person is afraid of the current cultural climate in America. “We are scared as black people in America. Black men, black women, black kids, we are terrified.”
An impromptu players’ meeting was held on Wednesday with every player in the “bubble” reportedly partaking. The NBA’s two Los Angeles teams, the Lakers and the Clippers — two of the front-runners to claim this year’s championship — voted to end their season, while the league’s other teams have reportedly voted to play on.
The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement forbids players from engaging in work stoppages, but the league rules also demand that players stand for the National Anthem — a rule which Commissioner Adam Silver vowed not to enforce when the league began play again in late July.
Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers joined their hometown professional sports compatriots and chose not to play their scheduled contest against the Cincinnati Reds in Milwaukee on Wednesday. The Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants also chose not to take the field on Wednesday evening, although the rest of the league played as scheduled.
Major League Soccer also chose not to play on Wednesday in solidarity with the NBA.
The remainder of the NBA playoff schedule is now in doubt, as owners and league officials are reportedly set to meet today on whether to continue given the high tensions surrounding the players’ new social-justice stances.
Can any of these pro sports leagues afford their current obsession with leftist “woke” politics? Currently, only die-hard soccer fans even care about Major League Soccer. And Major League Baseball’s ratings are also down, thanks to a truncated season and the league’s decision to endorse kneeling for the National Anthem.
But the NBA has fallen the furthest, and has the most to lose. While basketball was once thought of as a prime candidate to replace football as the nation’s top sports obsession, viewership of America’s premier basketball league on its prime broadcast partner ABC has fallen an astounding 45 percent since 2012. Most NBA games are shown on cable, but those numbers are dropping as well, with TNT’s coverage of the NBA declining by 40 percent and ESPN’s numbers dropping by 20 percent.
Perhaps some of that decline has to do with the product on the floor. Typically, only two or three teams are ever considered serious contenders for the championship. Top stars typically leave smaller markets and chase championships with other high-caliber talent on super teams, giving the small-market teams little chance to succeed.
But the league would be obtuse to neglect the reaction that many fans are having to their social-justice tantrums. From kneeling for the national anthem to painting Black Lives Matter on the playing surface, the people who ultimately pay their exorbitant salaries — the fans — are tiring of their politically biased behavior.
Photo: AP Images
James Murphy is a freelance journalist who writes on a variety of subjects. He can be reached at [email protected].
