NBA Announces Rescheduling of Three Utah Jazz Games

The Utah Jazz will have three games rescheduled due to the Los Angeles fires.
Dec 1, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) shoots over Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) and forward/center John Collins (20) during the second half at the Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images
Dec 1, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) shoots over Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) and forward/center John Collins (20) during the second half at the Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images / Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images
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The NBA announced that the Utah Jazz will have to reschedule three games due to the fires in Los Angeles. Starting with a home game with the Washington Wizards that was scheduled on January 23, is now being played on March 19 in Salt Lake City. Also, the road game with the Los Angeles Lakers on February 11 has been moved up a day, to February 10. Finally, the home game versus the Los Angeles Clippers on March 19 has been switched to February 13.

The game that will be most impacted will be the game versus the Wizards. The initial meeting was scheduled to be before the trade deadline. The players involved will certainly be different with the game being rescheduled post-trade deadline. Utah appears to be jumping in with both feet regarding tanking the season.

The Jazz have been more aggressive in giving themselves better odds for the 2025 NBA lottery. Walker Kessler and Colin Sexton have sat out games due to ‘rest’. Then there’s John Collins, who is going on two weeks since playing in a game due to a hip injury. Utah’s best player, Lauri Markkanen, will also miss his second consecutive game tonight with a back issue. 

If the season were to end today, the Jazz would have the fifth-best lottery odds. They’re 2.5 games removed from six and 1.5 games from four. It will be interesting to see how far the Jazz will push the boundaries in sitting their players moving forward.

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Patrick Byrnes
PATRICK BYRNES

Patrick Byrnes is the Deputy Editor of The Frozen Rope — SI.com's team website covering the Utah Jazz.