Players have voted to resume the 2020 NBA Playoffs, but Thursday’s three games have been postponed until a later date, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The current plan is to resume action on Saturday, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
More meetings are planned for Thursday after the players’ vote, including one with two players per team, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. This meeting will focus on “formulating action plans to address racial injustice issues,” as well as determining how the playoffs will start back up. The NBA owners will be involved in these conversations to discuss these plans in more detail, per Woj.
Game 6 between the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks was scheduled to start Thursday’s action, followed by Game 1 of the second-round series between the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics. The Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks were set to finish off the three-game slate with their own Game 6.
This vote to resume play comes after the Milwaukee Bucks kicked off an NBA player strike on Wednesday. In the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting at the hands of Kenosha police this past weekend, the Bucks opted not to come out and play Game 5 against the Orlando Magic. This set off a chain of events that resulted in two more games being postponed: Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers vs. Los Angeles Clippers.
With rumors of a possible season cancellation swirling, there was a tense meeting among players on Wednesday night, with coaches and referees even getting involved. LeBron James and the Lakers were notably fine not playing the rest of the season, as were Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers. These two teams are now on board with resuming the playoffs, including LeBron, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Joe Vardon.
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