NBA, WNBA, MLB and MLS Games Cancelled Wednesday and Thursday Due to Current Events

For those who stopped following the news when Sports returned at the beginning of the month, welcome back to reality.

A few days ago 29 year old Jacob Blake, an unarmed black was shot in the back by police 7 times in Kenosha, Wisconsin (40 miles from Milwaukee). He was with his children and trying to get in his car. Local police mistook his cellphone for a weapon. Blake survived though doctors told his family he will be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. Two days later, a 17 year old suspect was arrested for shooting and killing two protesters in Kenosha.

In response to these incidents, The Bucks decided to Boycott their game scheduled for this afternoon vs. the Orlando Magic. A short time later, the other two Game 5 games scheduled for the day–Blazers vs. Lakers and Thunder vs. Rockets–were also postponed. The NBA announced the postponed games will be rescheduled. Celtics Guard Jaylen Brown Tweeted Wednesday afternoon he wants to leave the NBA Bubble to join some of the protests going on in his hometown Atlanta.

Later in the day, the Milwaukee Brewers announced they will not be playing Wednesday night vs. the Cincinnati Reds. The Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres also announced their game would not be happening as did the LA Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants game. The WNBA and MLS cancelled their scheduled games for Wednesday and Thursday while the NHL cancelled the games scheduled for Thursday.

This is one of those times where Sports takes a backseat to current events. As a reminder, the nationwide protests sparked by the death of George Floyd was just 3 months ago. It was in the shadow of the aftermath of that tragic event that the NBA and NHL Seasons resumed at the end of July and the MLB, MLS and WNBA Seasons began.

This was an unspoken risk the NBA Season no one spoke of but you can be sure Sponsors and Executives hoped would not happen: Another incident involving Law Enforcement and an unarmed African American happening before an NBA Champion is decided. Like it or not, these professional athletes are human too. Many of them are also Black. Yes, most of them live privilaged lives because of the money they make. That doesn’t mean they’re not in touch with current events and most importantly, it doesn’t mean they don’t or can’t care.

As a reminder, the NBA Season was suspended 5 months ago because of COVID-19. The NBA obviously planned for the possability of another stop but for COVID-19 so it’s not like they weren’t considering this kind of scenario.

The latest reports indicate the NBA Playoffs will resume either Friday or Saturday. It sounds like it’s just a matter of scheduling the both the postponed games and other logistical details at his point. After meetings Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the 13 teams still in playoff contention agreed to resume the season.

The Lakers and Clippers both voted to cancel the rest of the season while the other 28 teams voted to continue the season. After sleeping on it and talking amongst themselves, they agreed with those who wanted to continue the season and more so after sacrificing so much just to get this far.

Several players including Pascal Siacam, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Lebron James have all basically said since the Bucks-Magic Game was postponed via Social Media “Right now, Basketball is the furthest thing from our minds”. This is in addition to what the teams in the NBA Bubble have been dealing with emotionally and psychologically. I’ll get to that in my next post on that note. As most following news related to the NBA Bubble probably knows by now, anyone who leaves Orlando–player, coach, staff, press and so on–must self-quarantine for 4 days upon their return to the NBA Bubble.

As of right now only the Celtics, Raptors and Miami Heat have moved on to the Secound Round of the NBA Playoffs. Assuming the Bucks played and won Wednesday’s game they would play the Miami Heat in the second round. They have a 3-1 lead over the Magic.

 

Some will consider the athletes who want to put sports on hold to address current events in person “selfish”, “spoiled” or “foolish” to give some examples and more so given COVID-19 is still in play (excuse the pun). As several Brewers and Dodgers players–all White–put it in statements Wednesday evening both spoken and written explaining why they postponed their game, they decided not to play because they do not want people be distracted from current events.

The two months between the death of George Floyd and return of sports gave many athletes time to educate themselves on current events and history in general. Many White athletes who were on the fence or opposed to certain optics have recently “evolved their position” after educating themselves. This is why most of the sports world–not just within a sport but across the sports world–is moving as one voice to speak the same message.

That message is “This is bigger than Sports”. Weather you agree with that or not, they are willing to risk money and more for their position. They’re already risking their health because of COVID-19 so…yeah. The NBA Season is expected to resume by Saturday on that note.

 

 

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