Winter weather delays travel for Trail Blazers, Thunder

The extreme winter weather conditions throughout portions of the country continue to impact the sports world as of Wednesday afternoon. 

As Andrew Lopez reported for ESPN, the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder had to postpone travel following Tuesday night's game at Oklahoma City to Wednesday due to snow in the area. Portland is flying out Wednesday afternoon and then heading directly to Smoothie King Center for a matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans. 

Oklahoma City, meanwhile, will journey straight to FedExForum after landing to prepare for Wednesday's showdown with the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis has already declared fans cannot attend the game because of the dangerous travel conditions. 

Both of those contests remain on the schedule, as planned, as of Wednesday afternoon. 

A men's college basketball game between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners, a Detroit Pistons at Dallas Mavericks NBA contest, and a Dallas Stars-Tampa Bay Lightning game are all among sporting events postponed due to weather-related issues, travel concerns, and power outages. The Stars have had three straight games scrapped since Monday afternoon. 

With competitions facing weekly and daily potential COVID-19 scares, it's understandable the NBA would like to avoid additional reschedulings ahead of the March 5-10 winter break if possible.