The NBA announced it is rescheduling some games from the first half of the season, after a string of postponements this month threatened to set up a loaded second half for some teams.
The league revealed three changes on Wednesday. The Portland Trail Blazers will play at the Washington Wizards on Feb. 2. That game was previously set for the yet-to-be-announced second half of the season.
The Wizards will also play at the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 7, in a game that was originally scheduled for Jan. 20.
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The Hornets originally were scheduled to play host to the Trail Blazers on Feb. 7, but Portland now will travel to Charlotte at a date to be determined in the second half.
So far, the NBA has postponed 22 games this season, but 21 of those have come since Jan. 10. The league originally intended to slot all postponements into the second half of the schedule, but that plan was becoming unfeasible for some teams.
For instance, both the Memphis Grizzlies and the Wizards have a league-high six games postponed. Washington had a 13-day stretch this season with no games, due to health and safety protocols in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Memphis is scheduled to play at the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday; if the game is played, it will break a 12-day stretch of no games for the Grizzlies.
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The NBA also left the door open to move more games from the second half of the schedule to the first half.
“Certain games that were otherwise scheduled for the second half will now be scheduled into the first half, with a specific focus on the teams with the most postponed games to date,” the league said in a statement. “To create the maximum flexibility, dates of existing games may also be moved in order to schedule additional games into the first half.”
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–Field Level Media