Hurricane Milton update: Orlando Magic vs New Orleans Pelicans preseason game canceled
Friday's Orlando Magic vs New Orleans Pelicans preseason game has been canceled as evacuations continue throughout Florida in preparation for Hurricane Milton. The hurricane is expected to decimate parts of Florida and has been called the "Storm of the Century" by US President Joe Biden.
While the hope was that the hurricane would weaken as it made landfall, it remains a Category 5 hurricane, posing imminent danger to various parts of central Florida. In response, the Orlando Magic vs New Orleans Pelicans preseason game scheduled for Friday has been canceled by the NBA.
The Magic broke the news to fans via social media with a statement urging residents to be prepared and stay safe. Along with the statement, the Magic's verified account on X wrote:
"The NBA has announced that the Orlando Magic vs. New Orleans Pelicans preseason game on Friday, October 11, at the Kia Center, has been canceled due to Hurricane Milton. The game will not be rescheduled."
Looking closer at the NBA’s decision to cancel Friday’s Orlando Magic vs New Orleans Pelicans game
Although Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, given the significance of the hurricane, and the fact that it has the potential to be one of the worst natural disasters in US history, the NBA has preemptively decided to cancel Friday’s game.
While typically, when a game is canceled the league attempts to reschedule, in this case, the game has been outright canceled. The team is currently on the road for Wednesday night’s game with the San Antonio Spurs, however, the expectation was that they would return to Orlando to host the Pelicans on Friday night.
Depending on how significant the damage is to the city and the Kia Center, the league may wind up having to take action to postpone or cancel the Orlando Magic’s Oct. 18 game against the Philadelphia 76ers. At the time of publication, however, the hope seems to be that the game will proceed as planned.
In the case of the New Orleans Pelicans, their next game is scheduled to take place on Sunday, October. 13 in Miami, which is south of Hurricane Milton’s path. Given that, the game is expected to proceed as planned, however, depending on how much rainfall Miami winds up getting, that game could wind up being postponed or canceled as well.
Assuming no other games get canceled, both teams will have two more preseason games before the start of the regular season on Oct. 23, when the Pelicans play the Chicago Bulls, and the Magic play the Miami Heat.