Members of the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics reportedly met Tuesday night about the possibility of boycotting Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated.
The two clubs, who are scheduled to begin their head-to-head series Thursday night, continue to discuss various options and will meet against Wednesday, per Spears.
Earlier Wednesday, Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes reported that the NBA Players Association’s executive committee “is in active discussions with players who are seeking guidance on the logistics of potentially boycotting games.”
Per Haynes, players inside the bubble organized an assembly on Tuesday for those dealing with emotional trauma in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisc. NBA players have been contacting the committee in the days since video was released of Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, being shot multiple times in the back by police officers.
Those reaching out have expressed feeling emotionally traumatized and “that they’re not in the right frame of mind to play basketball” after seeing yet another case of excessive force at the hands of the police.
Several players and league members have spoken publicly about being inside the NBA’s bubble while acts of violence are still taking place outside of it.
Raptors guard Fred VanVleet spoke out on Tuesday:
“Would it be nice if, in a perfect world, we all say we’re not playing, and the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks — that’s going to trickle down,” VanVleet said. “If he steps up to the plate and puts pressure on the district attorney’s office, and state’s attorney, and governors, and politicians there to make real change and get some justice. I know it’s not that simple. But, at the end of the day, if we’re gonna sit here and talk about making change, then at some point we’re gonna have to put our nuts on the line and actually put something up to lose, rather than just money or visibility.
“I’m just over the media aspect of it. It’s sensationalized — we talk about it every day, that’s all we see, but it just feels like a big pacifier to me.”
Milwaukee Bucks guard George Hill said on Monday that players returning to play “took all the focal points off what the issues are.”
“We shouldn’t have even come to this damn place, to be honest,” he told reporters. “I think coming here just took all the focal points off what the issues are.”
