OKC Thunder – Rockets will boycott Game 5 in protest of Jacob Blake shooting

The OKC Thunder and Houston Rockets will boycott Game 5 in protest of Jacob Blake shooting. All three NBA games today are postponed.

Tonight’s game between the OKC Thunder and Houston Rockets will not take place as they join their fellow peers of the Bucks and Magic who are boycotting games today in protest to the shooting of Jacob Blake.

This situation started to heat up with the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics players met Tuesday night to discuss boycotting Game 1 of their second-round series. No definitive decision was made and they were set to meet again Wednesday.

Blake was shot in the back seven times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin while his three sons were sitting in his vehicle watching. Reports on Blake are that he is expected to be paralyzed from the waist down.

OKC Thunder boycott Game 5 in protest

The Milwaukee Bucks are the team located the closest to Jacob Blake of Kenosha Wisconsin. That they elected to boycott their game in protest was presumably a last-minute decision given the Orlando Magic players were on the court warming up and getting ready to play.

Shams Charania reported the Bucks were trying to reach the Wisconsin Attorney General (Josh Kaul) from inside their locker room.

Shortly after the Bucks made the decision to boycott in protest the Magic players left the court. At the same time footage of the OKC Thunder arriving at the arena aired on TV. Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook – captains of their respective teams met in a room for approximately ten minutes.

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After they emerged from the room it was announced the Thunder – Rockets game would also be postponed. The players are clearly all on the same page that a stand had to be made.

LeBron James had sent out a NSFW graphic tweet saying “**** THIS MAN!!!! WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT.”

Shortly after his tweet, it was announced the LA Lakers – Portland Trail Blazers game is also canceled this evening as they too will boycott in protest.

The league sent out a communique that all three games will be rescheduled as per Ramona Shelburne. However, there is still uncertainty about what will occur next.

Earlier today Marc J Spears tweeted  Nick Nurse the coach of the Toronto Raptors told him he has heard a couple of players are talking about going home.

The players are set to meet en masse this evening and no doubt decisions will be made on whether more games are canceled or if they feel a more definitive statement needs to be made.

As the president of the NBPA Chris Paul will likely be at the center of discussions. For now, all media session by the teams was canceled as well.

The players are planning to meet at 8:00 p.m. this evening.