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Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver releases statement on social justice movement of players

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PHOENIX — Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver has released a statement after players decided to boycott several NBA playoff games over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.

Players from the Milwaukee Bucks met before Wednesday’s game scheduled against the Orlando Magic and chose not to play the game, and the rest of the teams scheduled to play that day followed suit. Thursday, NBA players met and decided to continue with the playoffs, but postponed Thursday’s games as well.

While the Phoenix Suns are no longer playing in the Orlando NBA bubble, team owner Robert Sarver still chose to release the following statement on the player movement:

“While I can't relate to what our Black players are feeling and experiencing today, I sympathize with them, listen to them, and support them. I remain personally ready, willing and able to work side by side with our Suns, Mercury and other WNBA and NBA players and coaches to bring about criminal justice reform.

We have done it before locally, fighting discriminatory legislation in our state and unfair sheriffing in our county, specifically advocating to defeat SB-1070 that legalized racial profiling in 2010.

Together we can engage again to bring about positive change toward racial equality.”

Teams across Major League Baseball also canceled games on Wednesday and Thursday, including the Arizona Diamondbacks game against Colorado Thursday.