The Lakers and Clippers were reportedly the only teams to vote against continuing the NBA playoffs in a league-wide players' meeting Wednesday night.
In a league-wide meeting Wednesday night involving every NBA player in the bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers voted against finishing the season, according to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix. What this means for the future of the playoffs remains unclear, though it's clear the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Wisconsin has shaken up the NBA community.
The meeting was led by Chris Paul and Andre Iguodala, though many other players spoke up. During the discussions, LeBron James said he wants to see more action and involvement from ownership, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania, who also reported that every team aside from the Lakers and Clippers voted to continue playing. James reportedly later walked out of the meeting, with the rest of the Lakers and Clippers following him.
The first domino fell Wednesday afternoon when players from the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic in protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. When both teams agreed to not play the game, the NBA postponed the other two games scheduled for Wednesday.
"We fully support our players and the decision they made," the Bucks said in a statement signed by Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan. "Although we did not know beforehand, we would have wholeheartedly agreed with them. The only way to bring about change is to shine a light on the racial injustices that are happening in front of us. Our players have done that and we will continue to stand alongside them and demand accountability and change."
For the immediate future, Thursday's scheduled games will likely not be played, according to Mannix. The fate of the remainder of the playoffs is still up in the air as players continue to discuss options going forward.