The NBA’s players met on Wednesday night to discuss their plans moving forward after players from the Bucks began what became a leaguewide wildcat strike, refusing to play their Game 5s in protest of police shooting Jacob Blake in the back seven times, leaving him paralyzed, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The meeting lasted several hours, with reports emerging of a number of different players and coaches stepping up to speak, eventually with coaches being asked to leave. About 2 and a half hours into the meeting, word emerged that the Lakers and Clippers had both voted against continuing the season and left.
Sources: The Lakers and Clippers have voted to boycott the NBA season. Most other teams voted to continue. LeBron James has exited the meeting.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 27, 2020
The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers have voted to boycott the rest of the playoffs and were the first two teams to exit the meeting, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) August 27, 2020
Per Charania, they were the only two teams who voted against resuming the season, with LeBron James calling on owners and the league to do more.
Sources: Every team besides Lakers and Clippers voted to continue playing. LeBron James said in meeting he want owners to be more involved/take action.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 27, 2020
As Udonis Haslem reportedly pointed out to the rest of the teams, there isn’t much of a path to the resumption of the season if the Lakers and Clippers, the two top seeds in the West, aren’t a part of it, and clearly there must be a full decision made.
Sources: Miami’s Udonis Haslem spoke and essentially told everyone in room that — without Lakers and Clippers, how will season continue?
LeBron James walked out. Rest of Lakers and Clippers exited behind him.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 27, 2020
We will await that official word from the players union, but for now it seems two of the league’s biggest teams that feature four of its biggest stars do not plan to continue playing. The question is if the Lakers and Clippers can be brought back into the fold when the NBA’s Board of Governors meet on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. ET, should ownership and league executives agree to do more, speak out, and wield their power, money, and influence more at the state and national levels.
Sources to @YahooSports: Board of governors meeting scheduled for 11 AM ET. So the Clippers and Lakers power move is giving the owners a timeline on a plan
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) August 27, 2020
I can confirm that tomorrow’s Board of Governor’s meeting will be at 11 a.m. Seemingly the season rests on what the league’s wealthiest people can commit too.
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) August 27, 2020
If nothing else, the Lakers and Clippers taking this stance applies immense pressure on ownership to make serious plans and put actual, actionable things on the table in their meeting. Somewhat unsurprisingly, given it was always going to be very difficult to get every player and team on the same page with something like a strike, David Aldridge of The Athletic says the meeting ended “ugly” with players not fully certain how things will play out in the coming days.
Told the players’ meeting ended “ugly,” per a source, with uncertainty about what will happen tomorrow. The union will be present at the special Board of Governors meeting, per a source.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) August 27, 2020
It seems as though Steve Ballmer has, at least to a point, gotten the message sent by the Clippers players, issuing a statement through the team on Wednesday night, calling for police accountability and reform.
A statement from @Steven_Ballmer. pic.twitter.com/p8wGQHiY7y
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 27, 2020