NBA Announces 3 Schedule Changes for Blazers, Wizards, Hornets Amid COVID-19

The NBA announced Wednesday that it rescheduled two previously postponed games for early February rather than adding them to the second half of the league's schedule. One contest has been moved to the second half of the season.

The Portland Trail Blazers will travel to the Washington Wizards on Feb. 2, Washington will visit the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 7 and a Blazers-Hornets matchup on Feb. 7 has been pushed to the second half.

The league decided to release the 2020-21 schedule in two waves in order to retain flexibility in case it needed to postpone contests because of health and safety protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The first half of the season has seen 23 games postponed through Wednesday, with six games featuring the Memphis Grizzlies and another six including the Wizards. 

"Certain games that were otherwise scheduled for the second half will now be scheduled into the first half, with a specific focus on the teams with the most postponed games to date," the NBA said in its statement. "To create the maximum flexibility, dates of existing games may also be moved in order to schedule additional games into the first half."

The second half of the season begins March 11, and the remaining schedule is set to be released in the coming weeks. 

The regular season is set to conclude by May 16, with a play-in tournament for the final playoff seeds held May 18-21. The NBA playoffs begin May 22.