State Watch

Severe weather in Texas forces postponement of NBA game in Detroit

The NBA announced its Wednesday night contest between the Washington Wizards and the Detroit Pistons has been postponed due to inclement weather in the Texas area, leaving the Pistons’ team stranded.

“Due to severe weather conditions in the Dallas area, the Pistons have been unable to fly back to Detroit after their game on Monday at American Airlines Center,” the league said in its statement on Wednesday, noting that the date for the Pistons-Wizards game will be rescheduled on a later date. 

Both teams’ previous contests were in Texas. The Wizards blew out the San Antonio Spurs on the road, while the Pistons lost their contest with the Dallas Mavericks.

Thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed in the past few days due to severe weather that swept through the southern and central parts of the U.S. 

Texas has been hit with a combination of sleet, freezing rain, ice and frigid temperatures, resulting in the deaths of six individuals and leaving almost 300,000 homes and businesses without power, USA Today reported

The outlet noted that more than 1,200 scheduled flights in and out of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) were canceled on Wednesday due to inclement weather. 

“All traveling to DFW Airport should consider road conditions and allow extra time to travel to the airport,” DFW Airport wrote in a tweet. “Please approach entry & departure plazas with extra caution. Finally, we continue to treat all surfaces to ensure everyone’s safety at DFW.”

Sources told ESPN that the Pistons, who originally planned to fly out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area after Monday’s game, had spent seven hours stranded the airport before returning to their hotels. The team won’t be allowed to fly to Michigan until Thursday.