LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Milwaukee Bucks‘ decision to not take the floor for Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic prompted the NBA to postpone all three games scheduled for Wednesday.
The NBA said the three Game 5s (Bucks-Magic, Houston Rockets–Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers–Portland Trail Blazers) would be rescheduled.
Milwaukee is about 40 miles north of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the city where 29-year-old Jacob Blake was shot by police on Sunday.
The Bucks, who were scheduled to play the Magic at AdventHealth Arena here inside the NBA’s bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, refused to leave their locker room before the game, as league officials huddled outside of it.
Some players, including center Brook Lopez, worked out before the game. But when it came time for the team to take the floor at around 15 minutes before tipoff, as is customary for an NBA game, only Orlando’s players, as well as the referees working Wednesday’s game, showed up. There was no activity at all from Milwaukee’s side of the court.
Then, with just a few minutes left on the game clock before the scheduled tip time, the Magic players slowly walked off the court and returned to their locker room, leaving only the four game referees. Eventually, Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s vice president of refereeing and training, told them to leave the floor as well.
Shortly thereafter, the game balls were removed, as were the various accessories on both sides — like the name plates for each player’s assigned seat and the cushions on which some of them sit.