The show must and usually does go on for the NBA, but in these 10 examples, outside forces were so significant that it caused the league to take a pause and either postpone games or cancel them altogether.
1) March 11, 2020: COVID-19 outbreak
Wednesday, March 11 of 2020 was a surreal night for sports fans, especially those tuning in to watch the Jazz take on the Thunder. Earlier that day, the league owners had met with commissioner Adam Silver to discuss proper responses to the COVID-19, a.k.a. Coronavirus, outbreak that was just starting to heavily affect the U.S. The general agreement that afternoon was that the NBA schedule would continue but teams would be playing in front of empty arenas in order to encourage social distancing for fans. But what Jazz ownership knew at that moment, but couldn't share due to privacy rules, was that Rudy Gobert was awaiting test results for COVID-19. Just as Jazz and Thunder players were readying for tip-off that night, Utah's general manager got the news that Gobert had tested positive and met immediately with Silver, who made the call to postpone the game. The players were returned to their respective locker rooms for quarantining and testing, while confused fans were sent home. Less than an hour later, Silver made the announcement that Gobert had tested positive and the season was officially suspended indefinitely. The final NBA game for the foreseeable future was a Mavericks vs. Nuggets match-up on ESPN, which was interspersed with breaking news updates on the overall situation. Paired with Tom Hanks announcing on social media that he had tested positive on the same night, the NBA series of events likely made the threat of Coronavirus and the importance of social distancing hit home for many Americans. It was also a tipping point for American sports. Within the next couple days, the MLB, NHL, and MLS also suspended operations, while the NCAA cancelled all spring sport events, including the NCAA Basketball Tournaments.
2) January 28, 2020: Kobe Bryant passes away
No player death has ever hit the NBA harder than Bryant in January of 2020. While active players have passed away before, most notably Len Bias, as have other retired legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Bryant's young age and tragic conditions made this an especially heavy gut punch to the NBA community. The Lakers and Clippers were scheduled to play in a marquee match-up just two days after news broke of Bryant's death. A day before the game, the league office stepped in and postponed it, citing respect for the Lakers organization. It was initially re-scheduled for early April, but is almost assuredly going to be postponed again due to Coronavirus concerns. The Lakers did eventually take the court at home a few days later, paying tribute to Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, with an emotional pre-game ceremony.
3) November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy assassination
4) April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King assassination
It's often remarked that the nation essentially stopped when John F. Kennedy was shockingly assassinated on November 22, 1963, and that included the NBA. There were three games scheduled to be played that Friday night, and all of them were postponed to later dates. A match-up between the defending champion Celtics and the 76ers was pushed back all the way to March of 1964, while Knicks-Bullets and Lakers-Warriors games were delayed to January. While most Americans were still rapt with attention at the news of JFK's death and its aftermath, the NBA did continue its slate as scheduled on Saturday the 23rd, with the Knicks hosting the Pistons and Hawks hosting the Royals. Though the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King a few years later wasn't quite as impactful at a national level, it was a much more personal event for many NBA stars. Bill Russell had been an outspoken proponent of civil rights for years and was shaken by the assassination news. His Celtics were scheduled to open the Eastern Conference Finals the next day against Wilt Chamberlain and the 76ers. Both superstars preferred not to play but were overruled, as the league was concerned a cancellation would lead to civil unrest in Philadelphia. Game one of the Lakers-Warriors Western Conference Finals also took place that night in Los Angeles, but game two of both series was postponed after president Lyndon Johnson declared that Sunday a national day of mourning. Russell and Chamberlain both attended King's funeral during the break, then reconvened on Wednesday the 10th for game two. Though the Sixers soon opened up a 3-1 series lead, the Celtics rallied and advanced, eventually winning the 10th title of the Russell era.
Unlike the MLB and NFL, which were forced to postpone active seasons, the NBA was only lightly affected by the terrorist attacks on 9/11, as the '01-'02 season was still about six weeks away from commencing. Team training camps opened that October 1, on schedule, and the preseason slate went ahead as prescribed with a few notable exceptions. Six exhibition games were set to be played in mid October outside of the U.S. and Canada, and all six were summarily cancelled due to heightened security concerns. This included the Raptors and Timberwolves playing a series of match-ups in Germany, against each other and against two of the nation's top pro teams, as well as a Lakers-Warriors tilt at the Tokyo Dome and a Clippers-Magic match-up in Mexico City. The Global Series did resume in the '02-'03 preseason, with a game played in the Dominican Republic, and the NBA returned to Germany in 2006.
6) April 20, 1999: Columbine High School shooting
While mass shootings, including those in schools, have sadly become a way of life in America in the 21st century, the Columbine High School incident in 1999 sent shockwaves across the U.S. When two teenagers opened fire in their high school in the Denver suburb of Columbine, killing 13 and injuring 24, the community instantly began a long period of grieving. The Nuggets cancelled their scheduled home game that night against the Trail Blazers, with general manager Dan Issel citing the meaninglessness of basketball in the wake of the tragedy. The game was rescheduled for May 2 and it was ultimately a pointless one for the Nuggets, just one of seven consecutive losses to end the strike-shortened season 14-36 and well out of the playoff race. It turned out to be one of the final games of Mike D'Antoni's first head coaching gig, as he was fired by Denver in the subsequent offseason and soon after took an assistant job with the Suns.
While mass shootings, including those in schools, have sadly become a way of life in America in the 21st century, the Columbine High School incident in 1999 sent shockwaves across the U.S. When two teenagers opened fire in their high school in the Denver suburb of Columbine, killing 13 and injuring 24, the community instantly began a long period of grieving. The Nuggets cancelled their scheduled home game that night against the Trail Blazers, with general manager Dan Issel citing the meaninglessness of basketball in the wake of the tragedy. The game was rescheduled for May 2 and it was ultimately a pointless one for the Nuggets, just one of seven consecutive losses to end the strike-shortened season 14-36 and well out of the playoff race. It turned out to be one of the final games of Mike D'Antoni's first head coaching gig, as he was fired by Denver in the subsequent offseason and soon after took an assistant job with the Suns.
7) November 1, 2012: Hurricane Sandy
Excitement had been building for some time for the Nets' premier in Brooklyn. A sparkling, new Barclays Center was ready to make its debut on November 1, 2012, with the Nets opening their season hosting the cross-town Knicks on national TV. But just days before the game, Hurricane Sandy hit New York, forcing the city into lockdown. The flooded subways were closed, as was bus service and most major commuter bridges in and out of the city, and widespread power outages ensued. The NBA originally planned to continue on with the game until the day before, when New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg asked for it to be postponed. The Nets made their Brooklyn debut two nights later, defeating the Raptors in front of a sold-out crowd. Their game against the Knicks was rescheduled to late November and was a thriller, with the Nets pulling out a 96-89 win in overtime despite 35 points from New York's Carmelo Anthony.
9) January 17, 1989: Clement Lloyd riots in Miami
With riots raging as a result of the Rodney King verdict in 1992, the NBA not only had to postpone two playoff games, but relocate them as well. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley instituted a city-wide curfew in response to the riots, which meant that the Great Western Forum couldn't host games. The Clippers were making a rare postseason appearance, in fact it was their first since moving to California in 1978. Following a big win at home in game three of a first round series against the Jazz, they had to postpone game four by a couple days and move it to the Convention Center in Anaheim. Thanks to huge performances from Danny Manning and Ron Harper, the Clippers still pulled the win to even the series at 2-2, but dropped the decisive game five in Utah the next day. On the same night the Clippers were victorious in Anaheim, the Lakers suffered a blowout loss to the Trail Blazers in Las Vegas, ending their first round series in a 3-1 defeat. It was an inglorious finish to a disappointing season, which had started with Magic Johnson's surprise announcement that he was retiring due to contracting HIV. Though the Rodney King riots were more infamous, the Clement Lloyd riots in Miami a few years earlier were nearly as impactful. Spurred by an extrajudicial police killing of an unarmed black man, the city erupted in demonstrations that led to rioting. The Heat were in the midst of their inaugural season and initially planned to take the court on the night of January 17 to battle the Suns. But when the riots expanded and neared their home at the time, Miami Arena, the team was forced to postpone the game, just minutes before tip-off, at the behest of the Miami Police Department. With things a little calmer two nights later, they took the court at home and lost to the Bulls. Meanwhile, the Super Bowl was staged just days later in Miami, as the civil unrest had subsided. The Heat-Suns game was made up on April 19, with Phoenix easily winning 117-91, one of a franchise record 67 losses for Miami.
10) April 15, 2013: Boston Marathon bombing
The city of Boston essentially shut down in the aftermath of the bombing near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that left three dead and hundreds injured. A manhunt was on for the perpetrators, which put a strain on local police availability, and heightened security at sporting events was a necessity. Due to those circumstances, the Celtics were forced to cancel a game against the Pacers that was scheduled for the night after the bombing. It was the second to last regular season game for both teams, and ultimately meaningless. The Celtics, who were in their final season under Doc Rivers and with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce on the roster, were already locked in as the #7 seed in the East, while the Pacers had already clinched the Central Division and were going to be the #3 seed no matter what. Thus, with the season about to end anyway, the NBA cancelled the game completely, and both Boston and Indiana officially played just 81 games in '12-'13.