This archive report was first published on 18 June 2020.
Published on June 18, 2020, the NBA has announced that players who choose not to participate in the resumed season in Florida will have their pay docked by up to 14 games.
The decision must be made by June 24, as informed by the NBA Players Association to its members on Tuesday night. The association has given players until then to decide whether to take part in the games at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida.
According to the agreement between the owners and the union, any player who decides to sit out the rest of the season will have their compensation cut for each game skipped, up to a maximum of 14 games.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged the sacrifices that players and others involved will have to make, saying, "It may not be for everyone. It will entail enormous sacrifice - of those players and for everyone involved - the coaches, the referees."
Several NBA players, including Los Angeles Lakers' Dwight Howard, have expressed their opposition to resuming the season as a protest against racial discrimination and police brutality in the United States.
Howard, the Lakers' backup center, told CNN that now is not the time to resume basketball in light of the protests that broke out across the US following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white Minnesota police officer last month.
Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving also reportedly lobbied fellow players on Friday to sit out the scheduled resumption of play as a protest against racism.
