MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The NBA postponed games in Memphis and Milwaukee on Sunday because of a massive winter storm that is creating dangerous travel conditions across much of the U.S.
The Dallas Mavericks tried twice to fly to Milwaukee for their Sunday night game against the Bucks, but conditions didn't allow it. A decision to postpone was announced a few hours before tipoff. Food that had been prepared for the game was donated to shelters in the Milwaukee area.
Click to Gallery
People sled at Philadelphia Art Museum steps by the Rocky statue during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Pedestrians cross the street along Broadway during a winter storm Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Memphis Grizzlies forward GG Jackson II (45) handles the ball against New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
David Bentley shovels ice and snow from his driveway during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Earlier Sunday, a game between the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies was postponed about three hours before tipoff.
Reschedule dates were not announced.
The league also changed the start times for two games on Monday: Philadelphia 76ers at Charlotte Hornets will tip off at 3 p.m. ET instead of 7 p.m., and the Indiana Pacers at Atlanta Hawks at 1:30 p.m. instead of 7:30 p.m.
The Memphis area was experiencing a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain that began falling early Saturday morning and continued Sunday morning. South and east of Memphis, freezing rain collected on power lines and trees, causing widespread outages and blocked roads. Authorities had recommended people stay off the streets as the wintry mix and frigid temperatures caused a refreeze.
The Nuggets said they planned to fly out at some point Sunday, depending on the conditions at Memphis International Airport. They are scheduled to play at home Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons.
The Grizzlies are scheduled to be in Houston for a game against the Rockets on Monday.
An NBA G League game scheduled for Monday between the Memphis Hustle and Stockton Kings in Southaven, Mississippi, was postponed and rescheduled for Feb. 19.
At least two college women's basketball games were postponed: No. 17 Tennessee’s visit to No. 18 Mississippi on Monday and Tulane's visit to Memphis on Tuesday. Reschedule dates were not announced.
In men's basketball, a game featuring Tennessee at No. 21 Georgia was pushed back a day from Tuesday to Wednesday. Purdue Fort Wayne and IU Indianapolis, and Southern Illinois and Evansville had Sunday games postponed without make-up dates announced.
The schedule changes come after dozens of games were moved around earlier in the week in anticipation of the storm.
Separately, on Saturday, the NBA postponed a game between the Warriors and Timberwolves to “prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community” after the fatal shooting of a man by a federal officer in a district located less than two miles away from where the Timberwolves play.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
People sled at Philadelphia Art Museum steps by the Rocky statue during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Pedestrians cross the street along Broadway during a winter storm Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Memphis Grizzlies forward GG Jackson II (45) handles the ball against New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
David Bentley shovels ice and snow from his driveway during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
A massive winter storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the U.S. on Sunday, bringing subzero temperatures and halting air and road traffic. Tree branches and power lines snapped under the weight of ice, and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Southeast were left without electricity.
The ice and snowfall were expected to continue into Monday followed by very low temperatures which could cause “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” for days, the National Weather Service said.
Heavy snow was falling from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
“It is a unique storm in the sense that it is so widespread,” weather service meteorologist Allison Santorelli said in a phone interview. “It was affecting areas all the way from New Mexico, Texas, all the way into New England, so we’re talking like a 2,000-mile spread.”
President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had rescue teams and supplies in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
In New York, communities near the Canadian border saw record-breaking subzero temperatures, with Watertown registering minus 34 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 37 degrees Celsius) and Copenhagen minus 49 F (minus 45 C), Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
Freezing rain that slickened roads and brought trees and branches down on roads and power lines were the main peril in the South. In Corinth, Mississippi, heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar told employees at its remanufacturing site to stay home Monday and Tuesday.
“May God have mercy on Corinth, MS! ... The sound of the trees snapping, exploding & falling through the night have been unnerving to say the least,” resident Kathy Ragan wrote on Facebook.
In Clarksdale, Mississippi, Sanford Johnson said enough snow and sleet fell that few motorists ventured out.
“I had to break it to my youngest daughter that the play date she scheduled likely won’t happen today. We have no plans on driving,” Johnson said.
It already was Mississippi's worst ice storm since 1994 with its biggest-ever deployment of ice-melting chemicals — 200,000 gallons (750,000 liters) — plus salt and sand on roads, Gov. Tate Reeves said at a news conference.
He urged people not to drive anywhere unless absolutely necessary. “Do please reach out to friends and family," Reeves added.
In Nashville, Tennessee, Jami Joe, 41, feared her electricity might not last as ice-heavy limbs from oak and pecan trees continued to crash around her house. “It’s only a matter of time if a limb strikes a power line,” she said.
Because of icy roads, Josh Martin figured he and his wife, Misti, were “locked in” for a while at their home on a steep hill in Columbia, Tennessee.
“Getting in and out of the neighborhood is not an option,” Martin said. “I can get down because gravity will take me, but I could not get back up.”
Elsewhere, deep snow — over a foot (30 centimeters) in a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) swath from Arkansas to New England — halted traffic and canceled flights.
On Manhattan's Upper East Side, January Cotrel enjoyed the fresh snow on a block that always closes during snowstorms for residents to sled, throw snowballs and make snowmen.
“I pray for two feet every time we get a snowstorm. I want as much as we can get,” she said. “Let the city just shut down for a day and it’s beautiful, and then we can get back to life.”
As of Sunday morning, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warning, Santorelli said. Hundreds of thousands of customers were without power according to poweroutage.us, with Tennessee and Mississippi hit especially hard.
Some 11,500 flights were canceled Sunday and more than 16,000 delayed, according to the flight tracker flightaware.com. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey were among those impacted.
The danger will continue after the ice and snow, Santorelli warned.
“Behind the storm it’s just going to get bitterly cold across basically the entirety of the eastern two-thirds of the nation, east of the Rockies,” she said. That means ice and snow won’t melt as fast, which could hinder efforts to restore power.
In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at least five people who died were found outside as temperatures plunged Saturday, though the cause of their deaths remained under investigation. He urged people to stay inside and off the roads: “We want every single New Yorker to make it through this storm.”
Two men died of hypothermia related to the storm in Caddo Parish in Louisiana, according to the state health department.
Across the affected areas, schools and universities announced that classes would be canceled or held remotely Monday.
In Oxford, Mississippi, police appealed for residents to stay home. Utility crews were also pulled from their jobs during the overnight hours.
“Due to life-threatening conditions, Oxford Utilities has made the difficult decision to pull our crews off the road for the night,” the utility company posted on Facebook early Sunday. “Trees are actively snapping and falling around our linemen while they are in the bucket trucks."
Oxford city officials posted dramatic photos on social media of slick roads and ice-coated trees sagging or breaking under the added weight.
In Tennessee, emergency officials urged motorists to give crews space to treat roads as drivers have been crashing into them.
Icy roads also made travel dangerous in north Georgia, where the Cherokee County Sheriff’s office posted on Facebook, “You know it’s bad when Waffle House is closed!!!” along with a photo of a shuttered restaurant. Whether the chain’s restaurants are open — known as the Waffle House Index — has become an informal way to gauge the severity of weather disasters across the South.
Brumback reported from Atlanta. Walker reported from New York. Kristin Hall and Jonathan Mattise Nashville, Philip Marcelo in New York, Ed White in Detroit, Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia, and Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, contributed reporting.
A person cleans the snow from a car during a snowy day in Chicago, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A person crosses a street during a snowstorm, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
People wait to cross the street in Times Square during a winter storm, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Icicles form on a mailbox on a neighborhood street as a winter storm moves through Nashville, Tenn,, Sunday, Jan,. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Holly Meyer)
A person pushed a bicycle during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Pedestrians walk and ride their bike as heavy snow falls, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Icicles form on power lines during a winter storm in Nashville, Tenn,, Sunday, Jan,. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Kristin Hall)
A person walks across a street during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A plow clears snow in front of the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
A person walks across a street during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Workers with Architect of the Capitol shovel snow near the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
A worker shovels snow during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Two people walk along the National Mall as snow falls, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
