US NBA defers 3 playoff games amid players' boycott

The United States National Basketball Association (NBA) has rescheduled three playoff games after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to approach the court in protest against racial injustice and police brutality manifested in the shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin.

The NBA said the decision to suspend the Game 5 matches between the Bucks and Orlando Magic, the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trailblazers and the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder was made in light of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor today.

It added that the games will be rescheduled to a later date, but it is unclear when that will be done.

Lakers superstar LeBron James tweeted shortly before the NBA’s official announcement, “We demand change, sick of it.”

James, who has been a vocal critic of police violence against Black men in the US, said in the wake of Blake’s shooting, “and y’all wonder why we say what we say about the Police!!”

“Someone please tell me what this is???!!! Exactly another black man being targeted. This shit is so wrong and so sad!! Feel so sorry for him, his family and OUR PEOPLE!! We want JUSTICE,” he said on Twitter