NEW ORLEANS — Due to severe winter weather that led to record snowfall in some southern regions and ice accumulation in others, the NBA and several college basketball conferences have decided to postpone multiple games.
The NBA game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the New Orleans Pelicans, originally set for Wednesday night, has been canceled after the storm brought around 12 inches of snow to New Orleans, a subtropical city not equipped to handle such conditions.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the fifth-ranked LSU women’s basketball team was unable to travel to Columbia, South Carolina, on Wednesday. As a result, the Southeastern Conference has opted to delay the Tigers’ matchup against the second-ranked Gamecocks from Thursday evening until the following Friday.
Additionally, the Sun Belt Conference announced the rescheduling of four men’s basketball games due to “hazardous travel conditions.” The game featuring Georgia Southern at home against Coastal Carolina has been shifted to Thursday, while Louisiana-Lafayette’s game against Texas State has also been postponed to the same day. Two Thursday games—Southern Mississippi at Troy and South Alabama at Louisiana-Monroe—have been moved to the following Monday.
The NBA has yet to inform when the Bucks-Pelicans game will be rescheduled, and there is uncertainty surrounding the Bucks’ ability to reach Miami for a game against the Heat on Thursday night. To mitigate potential travel issues due to the weather, the Bucks arrived in New Orleans a day earlier than planned. However, with temperatures hovering in the 30s on Wednesday, many highways and bridges across southern Louisiana were closed, and surface streets in New Orleans remained icy.
In conjunction with the weather, schools and businesses across the region were closed on Wednesday. Louis Armstrong International Airport also canceled all outbound commercial flights on the same day, contributing to the likelihood that the Bucks might have to fly to Miami on the day of their game, depending on their ability to depart on time.
An NBA official stated that there are currently no plans to call off the Thursday heat game, however, the final decision will depend on whether the Bucks can leave New Orleans in a timely manner. Meanwhile, the Pelicans are scheduled to play in Memphis on Friday evening.
Having already broken snowfall records in Texas and Louisiana on Tuesday, the winter storm has progressed to deliver heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, and the coastal regions of the Carolinas on Wednesday.
LSU officials have confirmed that classes have been canceled through Thursday due to road closures and icy conditions in the area. However, they are optimistic that the women’s basketball team can successfully depart from Baton Rouge on Thursday to proceed with their travel plans.
