NBA announces new dates for nine games

The NBA, which recently had to postpone four games as a result of wildfires in Los Angeles and severe weather in Atlanta, has rescheduled three of those contests and announced date changes for six others, the league announced in a press release.

The Hornets-Lakers game that was supposed to be played last Thursday will take place at Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 19, while the Hornets-Clippers game that had been scheduled for last Saturday has been moved to March 16.

Additionally, last Saturday’s Rockets-Hawks contest that was postponed due to the weather in Atlanta will now be played on Jan. 28 at State Farm Arena.

There’s still no new date for last Saturday’s Spurs-Lakers game, with the NBA indicating that a make-up date for that contest will be announced at a later time.

To accommodate the rescheduled games, the NBA has also announced the following tweaks to the schedule:

• The Bulls-Clippers game scheduled for Jan. 21 in L.A. has been moved up to Jan. 20.
• The Wizards-Jazz game scheduled for Jan. 23 in Utah has been moved back to March 19.
• The Jazz-Lakers game scheduled for Feb. 11 in L.A. has been moved up to Feb. 10.
• The Wizards-Clippers game scheduled for March 16 in L.A. has been moved up to Jan. 23.
• The Wizards-Trail Blazers game scheduled for March 18 in Portland has been moved up to March 17.
• The Clippers-Jazz game scheduled for March 19 in Utah has been moved up to Feb. 13.

Despite not being involved in any of last week’s postponed matchups, the Jazz and Wizards will each have three games moved around to help minimize back-to-backs and reduce travel.

It’s perhaps not a coincidence that Utah and Washington are among the NBA’s cellar dwellers — the league likely wanted to avoid making schedule changes that would significantly impact teams involved in playoff races.