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Atlanta sports teams join boycott in show of solidarity after shooting of Jacob Blake

ATLANTA — The list of teams and athletes sitting out games in support of a man shot by police in Wisconsin is growing, and it now includes Atlanta United and the Atlanta Dream.

An unprecedented NBA walkout over racial injustice postponed a second day of the playoffs Thursday, although players pledged to finish the postseason even as they wrestled with their emotions about wanting to bring change in their communities.

They are still angry and emotional after the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. NBA players considered not playing again the rest of the postseason and going home to their communities, although they decided Thursday they wanted to continue, according to a person with knowledge of the details. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made.

Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce told Channel 2 Action News the unity of NBA players shows how much power they have when they all come together.

“I’ve never seen anything like what happened yesterday where an entire league said we’re not going to play. We’re tired, we’re frustrated with racial injustice,” Pierce said.

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Former NBA player Charles Oakley told Channel 2′s Tom Jones that players have a voice and they need to keep using it.

“I mean we got to do what we got to do. It’s just been too much nonsense going on,” Oakley said.

In addition to the NBA teams, the Atlanta United walked off the field on Wednesday night and the Atlanta Dream decided not to play either. It’s not clear if either team will pull out of future games.

“They did what they felt was necessary to do and I understand that. Hopefully something will take place and we can figure out what the next steps look like,” former Hawks player Josh Powell told Jones.

Gerald Griggs, Atlanta NAACP president, said he has nothing but admiration for the players.

“Hopefully the Falcons will do the same thing and the Braves stop playing as well until we get real change,” Griggs said.

Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn told Channel 2 Sports Director Zach Klein he carved out time to listen to his players on Thursday. The team did practice, but held a team gathering on the field afterward. Eight other NFL teams cancelled practices. Quinn said he knows the powerful role sports plays in our country.

“What I saw last night was the power of a team and unity and collective power together where it didn’t have to be someone singularly taking an act, a group of people and I think you saw that across a few leagues,” Quinn said.

NBA games should resume; other leagues sit out

NBA spokesman Mike Bass said the league hoped to resume Friday or Saturday. He added in a statement that a group of players at Disney would hold a video conference call later Thursday with representatives of the owners, including Michael Jordan, and National Basketball Players Association to discuss the next steps.

The tennis tours had already decided they would pause play Thursday at the Western & Southern Open in Flushing Meadows, New York; a number of NFL teams canceled practices; and pressure was being put on the NHL by members of the Hockey Diversity Alliance to postpone its two second-round playoff games.

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 mobilization,” WNBA players’ union president Nneka Ogwumike said on ESPN.

The Oakland Athletics decided not to play their game against the Texas Rangers. Three Major League Baseball games were postponed Wednesday, although others went on.

The sudden stoppages was reminiscent of March, when the NBA suspended its season after Utah center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus. Other sports quickly followed until the worldwide sporting landscape had almost completely come to a halt.

NBA players agreed to resume their season in July at Disney, making clear they intended to chase social justice reform just as passionately as a championship. But the video of Blake’s shooting on Sunday left them so disgusted and dispirited that they wondered whether they should continue playing.

The players voiced their frustrations in a meeting Wednesday night, then continued talks Thursday morning. As they prepared to do that, NBA referees led a march around campus to show their support in the fight against racism.

Play had been set to resume at 4 p.m. with Game 6 of the Western Conference series between Utah and Denver. Boston and Toronto were also to begin their second-round series before the Clippers and Dallas met in the nightcap.

It was the Raptors and Celtics who had been most vocal about the idea of not playing, but the Milwaukee Bucks acted first when they opted to remain in their locker room instead of playing their Game 5 against Orlando on Wednesday. Kenosha is about 40 miles south of Milwaukee.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.