TNT analyst Kenny Smith exits 'Inside the NBA' set in solidarity with players

NBA.com Staff

TNT analyst Kenny Smith exits 'Inside the NBA' set in solidarity with players image

Following the postponement of the three NBA playoff games slated for Thursday, Aug. 27, TNT's "Inside the NBA" crew discussed today's events and the most recent movement brought upon by the NBA's players.

Long-time TNT analyst delivered a powerful statement and elected to exit the set in solidarity with the NBA players.

"This is tough. I mean, right now my head is ready to explode," Smith began. "Just in the thoughts of what's going on. I don't know if I'm even appropriate enough to say it, what the players are feeling and how they're feeling and I haven't talked to any of the players. 

"Even driving here, getting into the studio, hearing calls and people talking and for me, I think the biggest thing now as a Black man, as a former player, I think it's best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight, and figure out what happens after that."

The Milwaukee Bucks were set to play Game 5 of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic on Thursday. The Bucks never took the court.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the players boycotted the game in wake of Jacob Blake, a Black man, being hospitalized after he was shot at seven times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The Bucks became the first NBA team to boycott a playoff game to protest social injustice.

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NBA.com Staff

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