Frank Vogel Reveals Truth of Lakers Reportedly Voting to End Season After Protest

The Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 NBA title last week. However, players almost lost the chance to win a championship. The NBA almost brought the season to an end. Going home without a champion was a realistic scenario, but it didn’t happen. The shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, caused a mess in Orlando. The Milwaukee Bucks boycotted the game against the Orlando Magic. Other teams followed this decision. Lakers players boycotted their game and head coach Frank Vogel said the team didn’t want to stop the season.

NBA players met to decide on their next move. Initial reports suggested that both LA teams voted to end the season. Four-time NBA champion LeBron James wanted to pop the bubble.

Lakers players didn’t want to stop the NBA season

Players voted to resume the season after two long days. Coach Vogel talked to ESPN’s Zach Lowe about the real situation in Orlando.

“For three days we were unsure,” he said. “I know our group always had the intent to finish this thing, finish this out. Obviously, we had a couple of guys that were heavier-hearted on the social justice issues, so while all that was going on, I thought there was potential for us to not finish, but I just knew where our particular team and our leadership was, there was a desire to finish. So I always felt like it would get done.

“When that report came out that quote-unquote ‘the Clippers and the Lakers voted to not finish the season,’ I was shocked, I was floored, I didn’t really understand it. We met with some of our guys to get their perspective and it was really just like an unofficial poll of like how (they were) feeling in the moment, you know what I mean? I think some more conversations continued to happen and it became clear that we were all interested in staying to play.”

Danny Green shared similar thoughts

Lakers guard Danny Green spoke to media members the day after the resumption. He said that many reports aren’t really accurate.

“I don’t know how all of that stuff gets out so fast, and not all of it is correct information,” Green said. “I don’t know what you guys have heard. I’ve heard many different stories of ‘LeBron said this, LeBron did that,’ (or) ‘so and so did this, so and so said that… Most of it was untrue. I don’t know what you’ve heard and what you think is true or not, everybody has different opinions.”

Green said the voting to stop the NBA season was preliminary polling. It had nothing to do with the final decision.

LeBron criticized the NBA ownership and his teammates didn’t like the idea of continuing the season. However, players reached an agreement. They decided to use their platforms and fight against racism and social injustice during the playoffs. At the beginning of every media availability in the bubbe, Green was asking for justice for Breonna Taylor and other African-Americans who died at the hands of the police.