The NBA announced the rescheduled game between the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers will now be played on April 9th.
The NBA has announced a date for the re-scheduled Clippers-Lakers game. It will be Thursday, April 9 at 7:30PM PST. The schedule also results in the Clippers' game against the Bulls, originally on April 8th, now being played on April 6th. pic.twitter.com/frTEN0b2L2
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) February 21, 2020
The announcement also comes with a number of significant changes to the schedule.
According to ClutchPoints' Ryan Ward, the Lakers, who had games scheduled on April 7th and 9th, will now have to play a back-to-back-to-back set, all at home, against the Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, and LA Clippers.
The following changes have been made the #Lakers schedule to add rescheduled game vs. #Clippers: pic.twitter.com/QSHbuwlAkI
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) February 21, 2020
The Clippers, who had a back-to-back set against the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls will still have that back-to-back set, but it won't be a Tuesday-Wednesday back-to-back. Instead, it'll be a Monday-Tuesday back-to-back.
Doc Rivers and his team had a relatively light schedule to close out the season, with five games in the final 11 days. The last back-to-back set would've had two days off before and after, but now it'll be a three-in-four scenario for LA.
The game was originally scheduled for January 28th, but the tragic passing of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant on January 26th put everything on hold, including the game.
Now both teams will have to deal with a packed schedule in the final weeks of the regular season.