Clippers will hold practice Wednesday
The Clippers, like 15 other teams, were forced to play Sunday in the immediate aftermath of learning about Kobe Bryant's passing in a helicopter accident. Doc Rivers spoke on behalf of the team regarding what Bryant meant to them, to the city, and to the league, but the players asked for the locker room to remain closed to the media so that they could grieve privately.
Before tonight's Clippers/Lakers game was postponed, the team had already announced that it would not be holding shootaround, presumably to shield the players from an emotional moment. Once the scheduling change was announced, the Clippers decided not to hold practice on Tuesday either.
The NBA decided to postpone the game out of respect for the Lakers organization, but the Clippers were also profoundly affected by the tragedy.
There are so many ties that connect the Clippers to Kobe Bryant, from Jerry West being involved in drafting Bryant to Rivers coaching against him twice in the NBA Finals. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George both grew up in Southern California admiring Bryant — George even wore no. 24 in his honor in Indiana. George had the opportunity to spend time at Bryant's Mamba Academy over the summer while he was rehabbing, an opportunity George said he cherished.
Lou Williams was Bryant's teammate for his final season with the Lakers and shared some heartfelt and hilarious tributes about his time with the Laker legend. Ivica Zubac grew up a Laker fan in Croatia owning because of Bryant, and it was surreal for him to ever wear the same jersey.
Ultimately, life has to move on. The Clippers will return to the gym to practice Wednesday and the players will presumably have to speak on Bryant and what this loss means to them.
The Lakers game was officially postponed, but the NBA has not announced a date for when it will be played. Even though the two teams play in the same city, there are limited dates available at Staples Center to reschedule the matchup.
The only date that would prevent either team from playing a back-to-back-to-back would be on Friday, April 10. However, even that would require pushing back the Clippers' April 11 game against Golden State to later in the evening given that it is currently scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
The other potential outcome would be playing during the All-Star break. Ideally, they could play on Feb. 20, the Thursday that the NBA resumes, but the Los Angeles Kings have a home game at Staples Center that night.
The last time the league postponed a game was for the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 between the Celtics and the Pacers. That game happened during April and was never rescheduled because it had no bearing on playoff standings. The NBA can't know what effect a Clippers/Lakers game would have on postseason standings and tiebreakers at this point in the season and would presumably not want to wait until April to make a judgement.
Nevertheless, it seems like the league made the right call at this moment to postpone the game. Logistics certainly take a backseat after a devastating event like this one.
