The two teams are scheduled to play Saturday and Monday nights, even as other sports matchups are moved or postponed.
SAN ANTONIO — As a series of historic, fast-spreading wildfires devastate Los Angeles this week, the San Antonio Spurs appear to continue preparing to play the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena twice in the coming days.
As of Friday afternoon, the NBA has not publicly indicated it plans to cancel or reschedule the Saturday and Monday night games, even as Thursday’s Lakers-Hornets matchup was postponed to an as-yet unannounced date. The NHL put Wednesday’s Kings game on hold too, and the NFL moved Monday’s Wild Card battle between the Rams and Vikings from Inglewood to the Arizona Cardinals’ stadium in Glendale in the “interest of public safety.”
The Spurs, meanwhile, are in LA as firefighters try to contain the nearby fires which have burned an area bigger than San Francisco and destroyed more than 10,000 homes and other structures since Tuesday, including the childhood home of Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. Punishing winds exacerbated the crisis earlier this week as tens of thousands were ordered to evacuate, but officials expressed optimism Friday that an easing of those winds would allow fire crews to make headway on containing the flames.
This week’s blazes have killed at least 10 people, obliterated neighborhoods and left the country’s second-largest city on edge. No cause has been identified for the largest fires, the biggest of which, the Palisades Fire, is already the most destructive in LA’s history.
Crypto.com Arena is about 20 miles away from the nearest fires.
A Spurs representative said the team relocated from a hotel in Santa Monica to one in downtown LA “as a safety precaution.” Devin Vassell shared a photo to his Instagram Story, taken from a high vantage point, that showed blue skies in the heart of LA while firefighters responded elsewhere.
Acting head coach Mitch Johnson, speaking Thursday, called the fires a “devastating situation” and left the possibility of a postponed game or games up in the air.
“I know our people in the league, city officials and hotel and everything, are in communication,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll tell us everything.”
Lakers head coach JJ Redick, meanwhile, expressed he’d like to play on schedule. He lost his home in the fires.
“I want to coach tomorrow, I want these guys to play tomorrow,” he said. “If we can play, we’ll play.”
The last time a Spurs game was postponed: December 2021, when the Miami Heat couldn’t field enough players amid injury woes and the COVID-19 pandemic.