A Wednesday night game between the Sacramento Kings and Philadelphia 76ers was postponed due to condensation on the court creating an unsafe playing environment.
The game was originally scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. local time, but was officially called off just over an hour later after officials deemed the floor at the Wells Fargo Center was too wet to play on. The game will be made up at a later date.
The 76ers share the arena with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, who had a game the night before. An unusually warm and humid day seems to have affected the ice surface beneath the basketball court, creating condensation.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that someone in operations failed to turn down the temperature in the arena following the Flyers game, which may have contributed to the problem.
On the night of the basketball game, staff, as well as Kings’ center DeMarcus Cousins, made an effort to mop up the condensation before the game was called.
“It was pretty bad,” Cousins said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
According to ESPN, it was the first NBA postponement since January, when the league called off two east coast games due to a winter storm.
76ers CEO Scott O’Neil said that tickets to the cancelled game would be honored for the makeup game. O’Neil said that fans in attendance would also get a ticket to another game for the inconvenience.
The date and time of the makeup game has not yet been announced.
