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NBA Games Set to Resume Saturday After Player Protests

VOA News

   The National Basketball Association playoffs are set to resume Saturday
   after players reached a deal with the league that includes increased
   access to voting in the U.S. presidential election.

   The deal follows a player-led protest sparked by the police shooting of
   Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin. NBA games were
   postponed beginning Wednesday as players protested what they see as
   police violence and injustice against Blacks.

   In addition to the NBA games, several Major League Baseball contests,
   Major League Soccer matches, Women's National Basketball Association
   games and National Hockey League playoff games also were postponed.

   Additionally, play was halted at the Western and Southern Open tennis
   tournament in New York, while a number of National Football League
   teams refused to hold practices Thursday.

   Social justice coalition

   NBA players and league officials reached their agreement to resume
   games following a Thursday meeting.

   The deal includes a plan to set up a social justice coalition, made up
   of players, coaches and owners, which would focus on a range of issues,
   including voting access and advocating for police and criminal justice
   reform.

   Under the terms of the agreement, team owners who control their arena
   property will work with local officials to allow their buildings to be
   used for voting stations during the 2020 general election.

   The players and the league also agreed to work with TV networks to
   create advertisements during the remaining playoff games that would
   encourage people to vote.

   "These commitments follow months of close collaboration around
   designing a safe and healthy environment to restart the NBA season,
   providing a platform to promote social justice, as well as creating an
   NBA Foundation focused on economic empowerment in the Black community,"
   NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Michele Roberts, executive director of
   the National Basketball Players Association, the players' union, said
   in a joint statement.

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