• NBA.The Bucks do not appear at the game against Orlando as a protest against racism

The shooting suffered last Sunday by the young black Jacob Blake at the hands of the police in Kenosha (Wisconsin) was just the straw that broke a glass overflowing with indignation. This Thursday, the NBA playoffs could be canceled, an unprecedented historical measure that highlights the commitment of all the protagonists of American basketball to the social defect of systemic racism in the United States.

The Disney World bubble itself, the resumption of the NBA in exceptional circumstances after the stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic, was in itself a way not only to save the competition, but also for the players and coaches of the League themselves They had a showcase in which to make their social commitment visible in a moment of special relevance after the murder of George Floyd at the end of May, after a police officer immobilized him with a knee on his neck and ended up suffocating him.

Many of them were on the front lines of the protests that followed, showing that returning to basketball was not the priority. After much negotiation, the union and the NBA reached an agreement. Thus, the demands have been present in every night of competition since last July 31: messages on the shirts, the 'Black Lives Matter' presiding over the tracks and the knee on the ground of all the protagonists while the US anthem sounds. , among other striking actions. Now, many of the players think that even all that is not enough. "We are tired of the murders and injustice," protested George Hill, the point guard of the Bucks, the state team in which Blake was shot and who was the first to initiate a boycott that ended up suspending the entire day on Wednesday that possibly also ends with Thursday's.

Key meetings

Because there are several key meetings scheduled, in which the positions of teams as powerful as the Lakers and Clippers, with LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard at the forefront of the protests (they voted to stop playing and leave the Florida bubble), can end up imposing itself. It will be a tug of war between owners and players, because the economic and media stakes are huge. To the extent that the formula is agreed to go further in the implication for social justice, a formula can be found for the return to action of the playoffs, which were barely still in their first round. For now, the flame lit by the Bucks is having an immense journey in American sports: games of the MLB, the WNBA, the Major Soccer League and even the Cincinnati tennis open have been suspended.

Nick Nurse, coach of the Raptors, was meridian in explaining what was happening, why the players go even further. "They are deeply disappointed that the same thing happens again in a relatively short period of time. They want to be part of the solution. The boycott has come out of them as a way of demanding a little more action . They ask 'how can we do something to change, like now? ' It is not just about attracting attention, but that something needs to be changed, an action plan, "said the recently named coach of the year, in line with the statement read by George Hill:" Despite the clamor for change, there has been no action. So our mind cannot be on playing basketball. " JR Smith, now in the Lakers, summed them up more forcefully: "Don't you want to hear us? Now you won't be able to see us either."

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