JJ Redick says Lakers want to play against Spurs on Saturday
While the status of the game is still up in the air, Lakers head coach JJ Redick made it clear that his side wants to play the game.
While Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s emotions were evident after practice on Friday as he talked about losing his home to the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles, there also was certainty moving forward.
The league postponed the Lakers’ game against the Hornets on Thursday. As things currently stand, Saturday’s game against the Spurs is still slated to take place. And if Redick and the Lakers have their way, they’ll be suiting up after a long week away from the court.
“We’re prepared for whatever tomorrow,” Redick said, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic. “We, obviously, are going to work with the NBA, the Spurs, the city and do what’s right. I want to play tomorrow. I want to coach tomorrow. I want these guys to play tomorrow. If we can play, we’ll play.”
There isn’t much of a blueprint for handling this situation and having two teams with games on Saturday — the Clippers will host the Hornets — further complicates matters. Relocating one game, for example, is a logistical nightmare. Doing it for two games would be nearly impossible.
Las Vegas, for example, has Golden Knights games over the weekend. Smaller venues could be an option, but then issues with tickets sold arise. How does a team honor nearly 20,000 tickets for an arena that only holds 11,000?
Postponing the games seems possible, and maybe even likely, especially since the Rams moved their playoff game against the Vikings on Monday to Arizona.
That would also create scheduling headaches down the road. The more games postponed now, the more games squeezed into the latter half of the schedule. While that’s certainly not something that should determine whether the games are postponed, it’s a fact of the matter.
It’s a situation with lots of moving parts and perhaps no objective correct answer. But if the Lakers had their way, it’ll be business as usual on Saturday.
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