The NBA schedule is already feeling the impact of a powerful winter storm sweeping across the United States, with severe weather conditions forcing postponements and placing additional games in jeopardy.
Sunday night’s matchup between the Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies was officially postponed, while a looming decision remains for the contest between the Dallas Mavericks and the Milwaukee Bucks.
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According to Dallas Morning-News reporter Brad Townsend, the Mavericks‘ game in Milwaukee is trending toward postponement after the team’s departing flight was stranded on the tarmac due to de-icing complications.
Townsend reported that the game could be rescheduled for February 19, though the NBA has yet to issue an official announcement.
In Memphis, both the Nuggets and the Grizzlies, along with the officiating crew, had already arrived in the city before the league made the call to postpone Sunday’s game.
However, worsening travel conditions and safety concerns ultimately forced the league’s hand as the storm intensified.
Severe weather stretches across the country
The massive winter system dumped sleet, freezing rain, and heavy snow across large portions of the United States on Sunday, bringing sub=zero temperatures and paralyzing both air and road travel.
Power lines were coated in ice, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents across the Southeast without electricity as utilities struggled to keep up with the demand.
The National Weather Service warned that the ice and snowfall were expected to continue into Monday in many regions, followed by freezing temperatures that could cause “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” to persist for several days.
Forecasts called for heavy snow from the Ohio Valley through the Northeast, while “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened areas from the Lower Mississippi Valley into the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
“It is a unique storm in the sense that it is so widespread,” weather service meteorologist Allison Santorelli said in an interview.
“It was affecting areas all the way from New Mexico, Texas, all the way into New England, so we’re talking like a 2,000 mile spread.”
Trump steps in with state of emergency declared
The severity of the storm prompted President Donald Trump to approve emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday, with more expected.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency pre-positioned supplies, staff, and search-and-rescue teams across multiple states, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul said the state was bracing for its longest cold stretch and highest snowfall totals in years.
“An Arctic siege has taken over our state,” Hochul said. “It is brutal, it is bone chilling and it is dangerous.”
The weather-related postponements come just one day after the NBA delayed Saturday’s game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors, a decision made not because of weather but in response to the killing of protestor Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Video from the incident shows the 37-year-old being disarmed and restrained by border patrol agents before being repeatedly shot, contradicting claims from the Department of Homeland Security that he “brandished” a weapon or posed an immediate threat.
As the storm continues its slow march across the country, the NBA remains on alert, weighing player safety and logistics, while preparing for the possibility of additional disruptions in the days ahead.
