WNBA joins NBA in postponing games after Blake shooting

The WNBA has announced it will be joining the NBA in postponing its games scheduled for Wednesday to protest the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake. 

“The WNBA announced that the three games scheduled for this evening have been postponed. Information regarding rescheduling of the games will be provided when available,” the women’s basketball league announced on Wednesday afternoon. 

Media circulating online Wednesday also showed WNBA players from several teams kneeling on a court on Wednesday ahead of the announcement by the league. Players from the Los Angeles Sparks also donned shirts that spelled Blake’s name and had bullet holes on the back.

The Washington Mystics wear T-shirts spelling out Jacob Blake’s name on the front.

On the back, seven bullet holes. pic.twitter.com/bNSzdQ779N

— The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) August 26, 2020

WNBA players from the Mystics, Dream, Lynx, Sun, Mercury and Sparks take a knee and lock arms while wearing shirts that spell out Jacob Blake

No WNBA games will be played tonight. pic.twitter.com/MkdApV31Bu

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 26, 2020

The move comes just hours after the NBA announced that the dates of three playoff games that were scheduled to take place Wednesday would also be rescheduled after the Milwaukee Bucks decided to not take the floor during its scheduled matchup against the Orland Magic in protest of the police shooting of Blake.

Kenosha, Wis. police on Sunday shot Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, shot several times in the back as he tried entering his vehicle. At the time, police had been responding to reports of a domestic incident. 

Blake’s father said earlier this week that his son’s lower half of his body is paralyzed.

The shooting has since sparked protests in Kenosha and other parts of the country. It comes amid months of continued protest against racism and police brutality following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis earlier this year after a white police officer was seen kneeling on his neck for more than 8 minutes.  

In the months since Floyd’s death, WNBA and NBA players have used their platform to advocate for racial justice.

WNBA players wore apparel bearing the name of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black EMT who was fatally shot by police in her own home in Louisville earlier this year, and “Black Lives Matter” during its opening weekend last month.

Seattle Storm and New York Liberty players also walked off the court during the national anthem in late July in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement.

A number of NBA players have also been wearing social justice jerseys since the start of the season. NBA teams also kneeled during the national anthem as the season resumed late last month to protest racial injustice.