MINNEAPOLIS — The NBA postponed Saturday night’s game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors at Target Center hours after the fatal shooting of a city resident by federal agents in south Minneapolis.
The league said the decision was made to “prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community.”
The NBA postponed the game about three hours before tipoff in response to the Saturday morning shooting of a 37-year-old man just a few miles from Target Center. The shooting came less than a month after Renee Good was also killed by federal agents in another section of the city.
The Timberwolves and Warriors were scheduled to play a nationally televised game on ABC on Saturday evening.
One day earlier, thousands of protestors, including Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve and assistant coach and former star Rebekkah Brunson, marched through Minneapolis and gathered inside Target Center in opposition to the surge of immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities. Hundreds of restaurants, breweries and other businesses also participated in a day-long strike, closing up shop as a statement against the heavy presence of armed, masked agents. Many schools were closed Friday as well.
Most of the Timberwolves coaching staff was already at the team’s practice facility, located directly across the street from Target Center in downtown Minneapolis, on Saturday morning when word of the shooting began to circulate.
Several players started to trickle in as well to begin their gameday routines, getting shots up and a workout in before planning to head back home for an afternoon nap.
When the gravity of the situation started to sink in, members of the Timberwolves organization recommended to the league that the game not be played, team sources told The Athletic, to give everyone time to process the events and prepare any extra security measures that may need to be put in place in anticipation of further demonstrations. League officials agreed and decided to move the game to Sunday at 4:30 p.m. CT at Target Center.
TwinsFest, the annual baseball festival held by the Minnesota Twins, ended an hour early in response to the shooting. The Minnesota Wild did not postpone their scheduled game against the Florida Panthers in neighboring St. Paul.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch and President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly were communicating with players throughout the day to keep them updated and solicit their thoughts.
The Warriors arrived in Minnesota on Friday afternoon, coming in for a “baseball series” that included games on Saturday and Monday. With both teams scheduled to be off and in town Sunday, moving the game back a day was easier than normal.
Neither team was available for comment on Saturday, although Timberwolves guard Jaylen Clark posted a video of the shooting on his Instagram stories and wrote, “Sick world man.” Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton also weighed in, posting on social media that Alex Pretti, the man shot by federal agents, “was murdered.”
After Good was killed Jan. 7, the Timberwolves held a moment of silence before their game against Cleveland the next night. Finch also offered a statement in support of the Good family and those affected by her loss.
Timberwolves CEO Matthew Caldwell was in communication with the offices of Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey throughout the day. Tony Adams, the Timberwolves’ director of security, and officials for Target Center, who are in charge of the gameday security, have been coordinating with local government officials as well.
One of the considerations for moving the game back a day, team sources said, was to avoid taking police and medical resources away from other areas of the city that may need them more in the wake of Saturday’s events.
The game will no longer be broadcast on ABC. The Timberwolves plan to have their local regional sports network, FanDuel Sports North, carry the game. The Warriors will also have the game broadcast on their RSN, NBC Sports Bay Area.
Correction: The headline on an earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to ICE. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agents involved in the shooting were not part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.