The Sacramento Kings' schedule featured a Thursday night matchup against the Atlanta Hawks at the Golden 1 Center.
During warmup time, players were not on the floor and the arena was mostly empty which eventually prompted the staff to allow whatever fans sitting in their purchased seats to move as close to the floor as possible, but also left the upper decks empty.
All fans who are inside the arena have been invited to sit in the lower bowl, free snack and non-alcoholic drink, too.
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) March 23, 2018
A 19-minute delay before game time commenced due to protesters outside of the arena who were locked in arms surrounding its entrances. Eventually, no other fans would be allowed in the arena and the game began with whoever was lucky enough to make it inside which was an eerie sight in itself.
The scene inside Golden 1 Center https://t.co/2JKiYepx5N
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) March 23, 2018
The crowd gathered around the arena to protest the death of Sacramento resident Stephon Clark who was shot by police numerous times in his grandparents' backyard Sunday night. According to reports, Clark was unarmed, only holding his cell phone, and uninvolved in any trouble at the time of the shooting.
https://twitter.com/Captain_Hooks/status/976958261055275010
Instead of thousands filling the arena in what is only a few games left before the season ends, no more than a few hundred fans managed to make it into the Golden1 Center before police stopped anyone else from entering.
No one can get into Golden 1 Center right now due to the protest
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) March 23, 2018
Season ticket holders had mixed reactions to the protests, some said they understood the actions while others felt it unnecessary to suffer the consequences of not attending the game as fans. Nonetheless, this has to be one of the most bizarre games this season for the struggling Kings.
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