The National Basketball Association postponed three playoff games on Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks remained in their locker room in protest of the police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Bucks were set to begin Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, but instead they refused to take the floor, which resulted in the NBA rescheduling Game 5.
Games that were cancelled include that of Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game, and the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trailblazers.
“The NBA and the NBPA today announced that in light of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor today for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today’s three games – MIL-ORL, HOU-OKC and LAL-POR have been postponed,” said the NBA on Twitter.
“Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled.”
The Bucks are the nearest team to Kenosha, where a police officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back while his children watched in horror.
The now viral video of the shooting sparked another set of nightly protests that turned violent when armed white vigilantes arrived.
“Some things are bigger than basketball. The stand taken today by the players and org shows that we’re fed up,” tweeted Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry.
“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 team had their fair share of history with police brutality, one of which occurred in January 2018.
Bucks guard Sterling Brown was arrested by Milwaukee police officers after seeing his car parked in between two handicapped spots in a parking lot.
What should have been an incident that should have been dealt peacefully, the altercation between Brown and the police ended with the latter kneeling on Brown’s neck while being subdued with a Taser.
The city of Milwaukee offered to pay Brown $400,000 to stay quiet about the incident, which he refused.
“I rejected the offer because I have a responsibility to be a voice and help change the narrative for my people,” said Brown.
“In order to do so I have to tell my story, so dialogue and conversations about police brutality can help influence and change a corrupt system. It goes deeper than me just illegally parking.”