NBA 2K Devs Release Statement On Jacob Blake Shooting And NBA Protests

On Wednesday, multiple NBA teams refused to participate in their playoff games as a protest and a sign of solidarity over the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin this week. Teams in the WNBA and other sports league have also followed suit. 2K Sports, which develops the NBA 2K series, has now released a statement on the matter.

In a statement to GameSpot, 2K said it strongly supports the NBA and WNBA players and leagues for taking a stand in support for racial justice.

"We at 2K stand against racial injustice and the continued violence against the Black community," a spokesperson said. "NBA 2K has a strong community. We have been heartened by seeing our community use 2K as a place to congregate and honor movements in their own way."

"It is imperative that people have places and ways to share their voice during these times, and it is our aim to keep making 2K a place that our players feel comfortable expressing themselves," the statement continues. "As for the NBA and WNBA, we strongly support the players and the leagues using their platform to demonstrate against the shooting of Jacob Blake."

NBA 2K players have used the game to show support for racial equality and justice. Following the murder of George Floyd this year, 2K Sports gave players free in-game Black Lives Matter clothing for their characters in NBA 2K20. Additionally, 2K Sports paused all online play for a period of two hours.

This was one of a small number of strikes in NBA history. USA Today reminds us that Los Angeles Lakers player Elgin Baylor refused to play in a 1959 game in protest of segregation at a South Carolina hotel. In 1961, Bill Russell and other Boston Celtics players refused to play as a protest after a restaurant in Kentucky refused to serve Russell.

All of the NBA's playoff games on Wednesday were postponed in light of the news. Thursday's slate will also be postponed, but according to ESPN, players have decided they will resume the ongoing season, rather than shut things down entirely, as they were considering.

Blake was shot by a police officer and is now in the hospital in a stable but serious condition, according to GameSpot sister site CBS News. His family's attorneys say he is paralyzed due to bullets passing through his spinal cord.