The Lakers and Clippers reportedly voted to cancel the rest of NBA the season. LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard were reportedly “adamant.”
The other 11 alive playoff teams reportedly voted to continue the playoffs.
With players divided exiting their meeting last night, what will happen in their meeting this morning?
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
ESPN Sources: Several key members of Lakers -- and some peers around league -- stayed up until early AM hours talking through issues in The Bubble. Among key players in league heading into 11 AM meeting, there's optimism about a majority of players wanting to continue playoffs.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2020
The Bucks led this strike because they want justice for Jacob Blake, including having the Wisconsin State Legislature address police accountability, police brutality and criminal-justice reform. Has the Bucks’ action led to satisfactory progress yet? That question should not get lost as players deliberate whether or not to return to work.
This also isn’t a simple case of what a majority of players want. That should have been clear last night when the vote by teams was 11-2 in favor of playing but nothing was resolved.
Alone, the top teams (like the Lakers and Clippers) and top players (like LeBron and Leonard) could render the rest of the season illegitimate – i.e., deemed not worth watching by fans, which would undermine the financial viability of continuing.
Maybe the “key players” Wojnarowski cites have a good feel of both how many players and which players support finishing the playoffs and what that means. But that’s difficult for even the players involved to ascertain until everyone meets together today.