NBA games postponed again but league insist they are 'hopeful' of playoff resumption after protests

The NBA has confirmed that no playoff games will take place for the second night in succession.

On Wednesday night, all three scheduled contests inside the league's bubble at Walt Disney World in Florida were postponed after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the floor for their Eastern Conference first-round game-five clash with the Orlando Magic.

Such a boycott formed part of an unprecedented sporting shutdown across the US - which also involved baseball, tennis and soccer as well as practice sessions in the NFL - as athletes protested against racial injustice and police violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

In the NBA, game five of the first round series' between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers were also postponed, along with matches in the WNBA.

Players held meetings on Thursday amid questions over whether this would mark the end of the NBA season, though ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that a decision had been reached to resume the playoffs.

Releasing an official update later on, the NBA's executive vice-president Mike Bass confirmed that Thursday's games would also be postponed, though he said the league were hopeful that the playoffs would get back under way on either Friday or Saturday.

Further discussions are also set to be held between players, team governors, representatives from the National Basketball Players Association, NBA league office and NBA Labor Relations Committee, which is chaired by Chicago Bulls icon and current Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan.

The Utah Jazz had been scheduled to face the Denver Nuggets in game six of their Western Conference first-round series on Thursday night, with that fixture originally supposed to be followed by game one of the Eastern Conference semi-final match-up between the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics.

The Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks were also scheduled to contest game six of their first-round series.

"NBA playoff games for today will not be played as scheduled," Bass confirmed. "We are hopeful to resume games either Friday or Saturday.

"There is a videoconference call meeting scheduled later this afternoon between a group of NBA players and team governors representing the 13 teams in Orlando, along with representatives from the National Basketball Players Association and the league office and NBA Labor Relations Committee Chairman Michael Jordan, to discuss next steps.”