In the wake of wildfires that have torn through swaths of Los Angeles — and smoke from those fires damaging the air quality around the region — the NBA has decided to postpone tonight’s game between the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.
No date for a rescheduled game has yet been set.
We're with you, LA 💜 pic.twitter.com/PoROo4ycd9
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 9, 2025
The NBA’s move echoes what the NHL did last night with the Los Angeles game against Calgary in the same building. The NFL is considering moving the Minnesota Vikings at the Los Angeles Rams playoff game scheduled for Sunday at SoFi stadium in Inglewood to Arizona on Monday if conditions do not improve.
“The entire NBA family sends its thoughts and support to the community of Los Angeles during this challenging time,” the NBA said in its statement. “We are grateful for the thousands of local firefighters and first responders who have demonstrated enormous bravery. Our prayers remain with those affected by the unimaginable devastation caused by the wildfires.”
Both the Lakers and Clippers are scheduled to have home games on Saturday night (the Clippers are hosting those same Hornets and the Lakers welcoming the Spurs), and there is no change yet in the status of those games. It will depend on how efforts to contain those fires go and how smoke and wind patterns impact the air quality in the region.
Wildfires — fanned by strong winds — spread rapidly through several regions of greater Los Angeles this week, with the largest fire starting in Pacific Palisades, a town that climbs up into the Santa Monica Mountains, but that fire grew rapidly to impact Malibu and Santa Monica. Altadena, with the Eaton fire, and Hollywood, with the Sunset fire, were also hit hard. Five people have died as of this writing, more than 125,000 people have been placed under evacuation orders, an estimated 2,000 homes and businesses have been burned (although that figure may be low), and the fires have disrupted life throughout the city.
