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Former Houston Rockets star Kenny Smith walks off TNT set in support of NBA players' strike

Rockets playoff game against OKC postponed after Bucks boycott Game 5 to protest Jacob Blake shooting

HOUSTON — Two-time NBA champion Houston Rockets star Kenny Smith walked off the "Inside the NBA" set Wednesday afternoon in solidarity with the NBA players' strike.

The NBA and NBA Players’ Association announced Wednesday afternoon the three scheduled games – Milwaukee vs. Orlando, Houston vs. Oklahoma City and Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland – have been postponed “in light of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor.”

The Bucks made their announcement in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wis. on Sunday. The incident was captured on cellphone video that spread on social media and ignited new protests over racial injustice in many cities. 

Smith, a basketball commentator since 1998, was emotional on live TV Wednesday afternoon discussing the players' strike.

"Right now my head is, like, ready to explode just in the thoughts of what's going on and I don't know if I'm even appropriate enough to say ... what the players are feeling and how they're feeling -- and I haven't talked to any of the players, even driving here and getting into the studio, hearing calls and people talking -- and for me, I think the biggest thing now is to kind of ... as a Black man (and) as a former player, I think it's best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight."

Smith pulled out his microphone pack and unplugged it to the stunned silence of his co-hosts, Ernie Johnson Jr., Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal.

"I just don't feel comfortable," he could be heard saying while taking off his mic.

Watch the moment below:

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