The National Basketball Association (NBA) said it hopes to resume play in a day or two after a boycott by players protesting against racial injustice and police brutality, while President Donald Trump denounced the league as "like a political organisation".
The protest by the NBA players focused on the police shooting of a Black man named Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin - an incident reminiscent of the killing while in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May that sparked anti-racism demonstrations across the world.
Mr Blake's shooting has reverberated through US professional sports, with leagues postponing games and practices, even as Mr Trump and White House officials criticised the NBA players, a majority of whom are Black, for their protests.
The NBA players decided not to end their season after meeting among themselves in the bubble-like campus at Disney World in Florida, where games are being contested due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The NBA Board of Governors met in an emergency session overnight.
NBA Executive Vice President Mike Bass said the league is "hopeful" to resume games either on Friday or Saturday.
The league postponed its three playoff games scheduled for Thursday.
The player protest began when the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, and the NBA postponed all three games on that day's schedule.
The Bucks players said on Wednesday they were unable to focus on basketball due to the events in Kenosha, which is located about 60 kilometres south of Milwaukee.
Several National Football League teams cancelled their practices on Thursday, and ESPN reported the National Hockey League will not play its scheduled playoff games on Thursday.
Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the WNBA postponed games on Wednesday.
Presidential ire
Mr Trump, during a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Hurricane Laura, criticised the NBA.
"They've become like a political organisation and that's not a good thing. I don't think that's a good thing for sports or for the country," President Trump said.
It is not the first time that Mr Trump has blasted the league.
Earlier this month, Mr Trump said some of its players are "very nasty" and "frankly very dumb".
Mr Trump during his presidency has taken aim at Black athletes in particular, saying in 2018 of NFL players who knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality: "maybe you shouldn't be in the country".
Since the NBA restarted its pandemic-interrupted season, courts have had "Black Lives Matter" painted on them and many players have worn jerseys with social justice slogans.
NBA referees march in support of players seeking an end to racial injustice in Lake Buena Vista, Source: AP
NBA referees marched on Thursday around the Disney campus in support of the players, wearing black T-shirts with messages like "Everybody vs. Racism" and "Black Lives Matter".
Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, told Politico he planned to reach out to NBA star LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers about the player protests.
Mr Kushner told CNBC that NBA players were lucky to have enough money so they could skip work to protest, adding that they have "put a lot of slogans out" rather than "actual action".
Mr James, along with other NBA players and coaches, has been critical of Mr Trump in the past. In 2018, he accused Mr Trump of trying to use sports to divide Americans. Mr Trump that year questioned Mr James' intelligence.
Another White House official, Marc Short, was even more dismissive, calling the NBA players' protests "absurd" and "silly".
Former Vice President Joe Biden, President Trump's Democratic challenger in the 3 November presidential election, and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris - the first Black woman on a major-party ticket - praised the actions of the NBA players.
Kenosha has been rocked by civil unrest and violence since Sunday, when police shot Mr Blake, 29, in the back seven times at close range in an incident captured on video.
He was left paralysed by the shooting and is being treated for his injuries.
