Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton experienced a snow day against his will on Wednesday.
The big man was ruled out for the Blazers' home game against the Brooklyn Nets because he was unable to enter the arena, head coach Chauncey Billips told reporters.
Important details later came from Blazers in-house reporter Casey Holdahl, who revealed that Ayton was trapped in his home due to a recent ice storm in the Portland area. Ayton reportedly tried to get across the ice for hours and the Blazers sent people to help him, with no success.
Deandre Ayton: OUT (ice).
Ayton tried for hours to combat the ice coming out of his neighborhood and the team also sent people to help, but to no avail, leaving him out of tonight's game against Brooklyn https://t.co/Oa0Rv3Wbms
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) January 18, 2024
The fact that this effort apparently took several hours makes the situation truly bizarre. Ayton is 7 feet tall, one of the most athletic people on the planet, with the full resources of a billion-dollar NBA team behind him, a full day of warnings and hours to get things done… and he just couldn't get out on the road.
All joking aside, driving through ice is dangerous and it would be absolutely no idea to force it if the road conditions were really that bad. And at 10:29, it's not like the Blazers have a lot to lose by continuing to be shorthanded against the Nets. The Blazers lost their other big man, Robert Williams, to season-ending knee surgery in November.
The team managed to hold on and beat the Nets 105-103 via a last second floater by Anfernee Simons.
Ayton is in his first season in Portland after a trade that brought him in from the Phoenix Suns, a team that plays in a city where this kind of thing just isn't a problem. In 24 games, the 25-year-old Ayton averaged 13.1 points and 10.8 rebounds while shooting 54.8% from the field.