Kings arena was nearly empty for Thursday night's game due to protests in Sacramento

BarDown Staff

Golden 1 Center , Twitter/TonyRayHarvey

The Atlanta Hawks and the Sacramento Kings are two of the worst teams in the NBA this season, but that’s not why the Golden 1 Center was super empty as the two teams lined up for tip-off on Thursday night.

Golden 1 Center 8 minutes before originally scheduled tip-off, due to protests outside the arena. pic.twitter.com/IDaE1u7YSq
— Carmichael Dave: Humble Fan (@CarmichaelDave) March 23, 2018

Protestors from far and wide gathered throughout Sacramento on Thursday night in honour of Stephon Clark, an unarmed African-American man who was killed by Sacramento police officers this past weekend while he was in his grandparents’ backyard. As a result of the protest the arena was put on lockdown and fans attending the game had to wait quite a while to get inside, if they got in at all.

Golden 1 Center in Sacramento is in lock-down mode for Sacramento Kings v. Atlanta Hawks.

Protesters for Stephon Clark has seized the moment!#StephonClark @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/xLdnfbwFl5
— Publicity Agents (@TonyRayHarvey) March 23, 2018

Entire upper deck of Golden 1 Center is empty. So is Entire section 103 in front of me due to #StephenClark protests in Sacramento pic.twitter.com/NEByVNsTGx
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) March 23, 2018

While the start of the game was expected to be delayed due to the protests, the NBA went ahead with the game anyways and there were about 17,000 empty seats in the arena when the game officially got underway.

Game in progress despite #StephonClark protest outside of Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Maybe 2,000 fans watching game. G1C hold 19,000 spectators.
Sacramento Kings v. Atlanta Hawks @MSNBC @rachelmaddow pic.twitter.com/lQbbgexx8v
— Publicity Agents (@TonyRayHarvey) March 23, 2018

As for the Kings, they released this statement in regards to Thursday night’s game.

“Tonight’s game began with a delay. Due to law enforcement being unable to ensure ticketed fans could safely enter the arena, the arena remains closed and we ask fans outside to travel home. We will issue further information soon regarding a refund.”

(H/T Twitter/SacramentoKings)