The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t plan on sparking a wildcat strike across several sports in response to the shooting of Wisconsinite Jacob Blake, but they did, and Boston Celtic shooting guard Jaylen Brown couldn’t be more supportive.
After refusing to come out and play their Game 5 playoff matchup with the Orlando Magic in protest, a wave such protests grew like a tsunami over North American professional sports Wednesday.
First, the Magic-Bucks contest was postponed. Then the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers joined them, soon followed by the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Not even hours later, WNBA and Major League Baseball teams followed suit, as did Major League Soccer and tennis, per ESPN.
The Bucks stop here: Celtics players react to Milwaukee’s protest https://t.co/O8l7TimCAx
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) August 27, 2020
Sometimes, some of our best moments in history have come when one person says, “enough,” and Wednesday may well have been one of those days.
In a year where unprecedented events seem to happen almost as often as the precedented variety, the historic nature of what happened that day cannot be overemphasized.
Where it goes from here will determine that legacy.
The stakes are high, with the potential for the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to be blown to pieces and the remainder of this season and the next to be cast into doubt, potentially to the point of being an existential threat to the league itself given the pall of COVID-19 still hanging over the league.
Bucks, Magic boycott playoff game in protest; Celts, Raps may be next https://t.co/r2W5duoYcL
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) August 26, 2020
After the unplanned cancellation of Wednesday’s games, an impromptu meeting was assembled, and some players took issue with Milwaukee’s unilateral decision.
And Boston’s Jaylen Brown took issue with that, supporting the Bucks’ decision.
It must be remembered, the shooting that rekindled this blaze was in their home market, a market that saw local police taze and brutalize Sterling Brown, one of their teammates.
Brown was vocal on the elephant in the room — whether to resume play at all — as well.
Sources: As some in tonight's meeting wanted to hear Bucks' explanation for making an abrupt decision independent of rest of teams to boycott game, Boston's Jaylen Brown essentially said that the Bucks didn't need to explain themselves and he fully supported what they did today.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2020
“Are you going home to work?”, he asked his peers, “Or are you going home to be on the front lines?”
The question of how they can do the most good is the only question that matters right now, and it is an answer only they can provide.
And until we have it from them, the world waits to learn how we can support their efforts, whatever they may be, or become.
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