FAA lifts ground stop after disrupting NBA travel and delaying Nets’ planned flight to Memphis

Archive photo: New York Air Route Traffic Control Center. Image: Federal Aviation Administration, public domain.

Update, November 13: The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop Friday evening. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m. ET, NBC News reported. Normal operations were not expected to resume immediately. This update does not establish that Brooklyn has departed or arrived in Memphis, and it does not announce any NBA postponement.

The FAA’s nationwide ground stop disrupted NBA travel on Friday, November 13, with the Brooklyn Nets’ planned flight from New Orleans to Memphis halted shortly before takeoff, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

Brooklyn was on the team plane on the runway Friday afternoon when the stop took effect, Vardon reported. The Nets are scheduled to visit the Grizzlies on Saturday, November 14.

Some teams arrived before the stop

The Detroit Pistons had flown to Miami earlier Friday and landed before 5 p.m. ET, according to The Athletic. Their Saturday game is against the Heat.

Dallas also reached Cleveland before the disruption. Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News reported that the Mavericks landed at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at 3:48 p.m. ET. They are scheduled to face the Cavaliers on Saturday.

Cleveland, Chicago and Memphis had flights planned after their Friday-night games, Vardon reported. That left a different travel problem for the Cavaliers than for their already-arrived Saturday opponent.

No postponement announced in the cited NBA response

An NBA spokesperson told The Athletic that the league would not comment further on potential Saturday cancellations until more information about the ground stop was available. That response did not announce a postponement.

Referee travel is another concern: NBA officials fly commercially, so lifting the stop would not by itself guarantee they could reach their assigned games, The Athletic reported.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the stop followed a communications issue affecting air route traffic control centers. NBC News’ earlier Friday-evening coverage, before the nationwide stop was lifted, reported that some Pacific-bound departures had been allowed to leave while the broader stop remained in place. The disruption is a travel issue, not confirmation that any particular NBA game will be called off.