After the NBA announced the league’s season would be suspended indefinitely, the Pelicans and Kings were set to be the final game prior to that suspension with the game set to still take place in Sacramento on Wednesday night.
While few questioned why games currently in progress weren’t stopped, nearly everyone questioned why the Pelicans-Kings game was still taking place with nearly an hour between the announcement from the league and the planned start time of 10:30 Eastern.
However, extenuating circumstances led to a much different scenario playing out. Referee Courtney Kirkland recently officiated a game with the Utah Jazz in which Rudy Gobert played. As his contact with Gobert became more public, the Pelicans grew warier of taking the court.
On Sportscenter, ESPN writer Andrew Lopez talked about how the situation played out for New Orleans.
“I was near NBA and Pelicans officials at that time the exact release came out. As soon as that happened, the indication immediately from the Pelicans and the Kings was the game was going to be played. It wasn’t until later on that the issue with the referee came up that people started to figure out ‘Hey, maybe we shouldn’t play this game.’ The Pelicans started to figure out ‘We don’t really want to go on the court.’ It wasn’t until then. Up until that point, the plan was for them to play this game.”
The game would eventually be called off, though not before a confusing moment involving Lonzo Ball taking the court before being ushered off of it by teammate Brandon Ingram.
After the game, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported on a Pelican source’s thoughts on the game on the night.
This has everything to do with the Pelicans players. Word spread about official Courtney Kirkland, and it was a tipping point.
“Our guys don’t want to play,” one Pelicans source tells @TheAthleticNBA— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) March 12, 2020
In the end, the right call was made to not play the game and to, instead, send the players home and avoid any more issues.
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