Doc Rivers: Clippers players thought season was 'over'

NBA players on Thursday voted to officially resume the season, but according to Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, many of his players believed that the season was not going to continue. Now that it is, the emotions of the players are understandably high.

"They are really looking forward to it," Rivers explained. "Yesterday was a very difficult day though. Like their emotions were all over the place. They thought it was over. It was just a really tough day for all of them."

On Wednesday, all three scheduled playoff games were postponed after the Bucks refused to take the court against the Orlando Magic to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc. That night, the players held a meeting to discuss the possibility of ending the season.

The Clippers were one of two teams, along with the Lakers, that initially voted for the season to be canceled during the initial player vote, though Landry Shamet and others have said that the first vote was mostly an informal way to feel out everyone's initial reactions.

"To be fair, that vote wasn't us saying, 'We don't want to play basketball,'" Shamet explained on The J.J. Reddick Podcast. "It was just simply a poll of what we thought was best to do. That's what came out of our team."

The Lakers and Clippers reportedly walked out of the meeting but by the next day, they were all on the same page of wanting the season to get back on track.