NBA games on opposite coasts rescheduled due to conflicting weather conditions
Wildfires forced the Lakers and Clippers to cancel their games on Saturday, while the Hawks' icy conditions were postponed.
When the Hawks returned to Atlanta early Friday morning after a west coast road trip, they were met with a winter storm.
The NBA postponed the Hawks' scheduled home game against the Houston Rockets due to the hazardous icy conditions left behind by the storm that had moved out of the Atlanta area by Saturday morning.
The league made the decision to prioritize the safety of players, fans, and staff due to severe weather and hazardous icy conditions in the Atlanta area. The Rockets' flight arrived in Atlanta before the postponement was announced.
On Friday, a winter storm hit the Atlanta area with snow and ice, and there is a possibility of roads refreezing on Saturday night.
Over 110,000 customers in the Atlanta area experienced a power outage on Friday night due to trees falling on power lines.
In the southeastern U.S., icy conditions pose a hazard, while on the west coast, Southern California is facing devastating wildfires that started in Los Angeles earlier this week.
The NBA announced that the Lakers and Clippers home games scheduled for Jan. 11 would not take place as originally planned due to the ongoing wildfires.
The NBA, Clippers, and Lakers organizations have been in touch with local officials in Los Angeles and Inglewood regarding the ongoing situation in the area and the postponed games will not take away from the wildfire response efforts, the league stated.
The previously postponed home game between the Lakers and the Charlotte Hornets took place on Jan. 9.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association pledged to donate $1 million to aid in disaster relief efforts.
The Lakers have played home games in downtown Los Angeles for several decades. However, the Clippers stopped sharing an arena with the Lakers at the start of the 2024-25 NBA season, when the franchise moved to the $2 billion dollar Intuit Dome in nearby Inglewood, California.
The league announced that the rescheduled dates for the postponed Hawks, Lakers, and Clippers games will be announced at a later date.
The Hawks are scheduled to host the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 14.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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