The Milwaukee Bucks have started a movement.
One day after Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet and Norm Powell revealed that the team was considering a boycott of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics on Thursday in wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Bucks decided to not show up for warmups prior to Game 5 against the Orlando Magic. Milwaukee's boycott caused a ripple effect, which led to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, as well as Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers, boycotting their respective playoffs games.
The WNBA decided to stand in solidarity with the NBA and postpone all of their games, too.
Barack Obama applauded the NBA and WNBA for standing up.
Five MLS matches were also postponed. "Major League Soccer has made the decision to postpone the remaining five matches -- Miami-Atlanta, Dallas-Colorado, Real Salt Lake-LAFC, San Jose-Portland, LA Galaxy-Seattle -- scheduled for this evening," the league said in a statement, per ESPN. "Each match will be rescheduled."
Milwaukee's MLB team, the Brewers, also opted to postpone their game on Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds.
Seattle Mariners chose to postpone against the San Diego Padres. Dee Gordon of the Mariners took to Twitter to explain that there are more important issues that deserve the spotlight, instead of sports.
The San Francisco Giants, who previously staged a national anthem protest involving several players and coaches during an exhibition game, agreed to postpone their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite reportedly discussing a postponement of their own game, the Colorado Rockies went ahead without their outfielder Matt Kemp.
Cubs' Jason Heyward also decided to sit out.
Naomi Osaka announced that she will be joining in the protest by sitting out the Western & Southern Open semifinals.
