Raptors Contemplating Boycott Of Game 1 Against Celtics To Protest Shooting Of Jacob Blake

The Toronto Raptors are contemplating the possibility of not attending Game 1 of their second-round best-of-seven series against the Boston Celtics on Thursday as they discussed plans of staging a protest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.

"We knew coming here or not coming here was not going to stop anything, but I think ultimately playing or not playing puts pressure on somebody," Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said after Tuesday’s practice, per ESPN.

Protests have re-emerged in parts of the country after Blake, an unarmed Black man, was shot multiple times by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday.

"So, for example, this happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin, if I'm correct? Would it be nice if, in a perfect world, we all say we're not playing, and the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks -- that's going to trickle down. If he steps up to the plate and puts pressure on the district attorney's office, and state's attorney, and governors, and politicians there to make real change and get some justice,” VanVleet continued.

"I know it's not that simple. But, at the end of the day, if we're gonna sit here and talk about making change, then at some point we're gonna have to put our nuts on the line and actually put something up to lose, rather than just money or visibility. I'm just over the media aspect of it. It's sensationalized, we talk about it every day, that's all we see, but it just feels like a big pacifier to me."

Two officers are said to have been placed on administrative leave as the investigation on the incident begins.

Blake is now in stable condition at an intensive care unit, according to his lawyer, Ben Crump, who then clarified that "they cannot tell at this moment what his prognosis would be."

"We are still waiting for the facts to be confirmed but what it does tell us — whether is George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks — there is an issue with the culture and the behavior of policing in America," Crump told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. "If we don't have the systematic reform that this moment in America is crying out for, then we are going to continue to see hashtag after hashtag, protest after protest, and cities burning all across America."

Several NBA players have also expressed their dissent on what they consider as another display of social injustice for the Black community.

“We are scared as Black people in America," Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James said.