Discussions are ongoing as to when play will resume
Friday 28 August 2020 06:52, UK
The NBA players have agreed to resume the postseason, according to reports, but Thursday night's three playoff games will not take place.
The players decided to end their boycott and resume the NBA playoffs in a meeting on Thursday, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported.
The meeting took place inside the NBA bubble near Orlando and was the second session to discuss whether to continue the 2020 postseason after Wednesday's three-game boycott.
NBA executive vice president Mike Bass confirmed Thursday's games would not be played but hopes the playoffs will resume on either Friday or Saturday.
Bass said in a statement: "There is a video conference call meeting scheduled later this (Thursday) afternoon between a group of NBA players and team governors representing the 13 teams in Orlando, along with representatives from the National Basketball Players Association and the league office and NBA Labor Relations Committee Chairman Michael Jordan, to discuss next steps."
The Dallas Mavericks and LA Clippers were due to play Game 6 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Thursday, as were the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz.
The Boston Celtics were set to face the Toronto Raptors in the opening game of their Eastern Conference semi-final series.
A second night of WNBA games were also postponed and other teams and sports pondered whether they would play on.
"This is not a strike. This is not a boycott. This is a affirmatively day of reflection, a day of informed action and mobilisation," WNBA players union president Nneka Ogwumike said on ESPN.
One potential remedy for the schedule, per reports, would be to play the three games that were postponed on Wednesday on Friday night, and the three games scheduled for Thursday night on Saturday, though that has not been decided.
Shortly after Wojnarowski's tweet, LeBron James posted a statement on Twitter demanding immediate social change.
"Change doesn't happen with just talk!!" he tweeted. "It happens with action and needs to happen NOW!"
James and his Los Angeles Lakers team-mates, along with Kawhi Leonard and other members of the LA Clippers, had reportedly advocated a boycott of the remainder of the postseason in the players meeting on Wednesday night.
However, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, James offered a fresh perspective in Thursday's meeting, saying it was in the players' best interests to recommence play and finish the season.
Donald Trump has branded the NBA a "political organisation" as protests intensified over the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Wisconsin.
While President Trump admitted he did not know much about the shooting of Mr Blake, he spoke about the NBA teams' actions.
"They've become like a political organisation and that's not a good thing," he said on Thursday.
"I don't think that's a good thing for sports or for the country."
