What the NBA operations manual says about a team boycotting a game
Yet again, the year 2020 has thrown sports fans a curveball.
According to multiple reports, the Milwaukee Bucks plan to boycott Game 5 of their NBA playoff series against the Orlando Magic in protest of the Jacob Blake police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Bucks guard George Hill shared the team’s reasoning in an interview with The Undefeated:
Milwaukee senior vice president Alex Lasry supported the Bucks players.
Milwaukee holds a 3-1 series lead on the Magic, so what happens next? Well, like many things in this year, we’re in uncharted water.
But ESPN’s Bobby Marks shared what the NBA Operations Manual says in such a situation:
There’s no official word from the NBA that Milwaukee would be forfeiting the game, but if that’s the case, the Bucks would hold a 3-2 series lead going forward.
Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports reported the Magic won’t accept a win by forfeit:
A number of NBA players came out in support of Bucks, and Lakers star LeBron James tweeted: “WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT”
Nearly an hour after the Bucks-Magic game was set to tip off, the NBA postponed it along with the other two contests scheduled for Wednesday: the Lakers-Trail Blazers and the Rockets-Thunder.
Later on Wednesday, the Bucks released a statement and stood as a team to deliver it:
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 3:45 PM.
