CHICAGO — Thursday evening’s game between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls was postponed due to a slippery floor caused by warmer-than-usual conditions inside Chicago’s United Center, the league announced.
The decision to postpone the game came after a delay of nearly two hours. It will be rescheduled for a later date. Tickets for this game will be valid for the eventual rescheduled date, the Bulls announced.
It’s the first time an NBA regular-season game has been rescheduled due to slippery conditions since 2017, when it happened at a Minnesota Timberwolves home game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Water was visible on the court moments before the scheduled local 7 p.m. tip-off, and the situation deteriorated from there, with humidity levels nearly double what they are inside the arena for a typical basketball game, those sources said. It was an unseasonably warm day in greater Chicago, with the Weather Channel listing a temperature in the city of 55 degrees at 8 p.m.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said players noticed the slippery floor as soon as they went onto the court for pregame warm-ups. The two teams finished their drills, the national anthem was played and starting lineups were introduced before the delay was announced.
“We always want to try to go,” Spoelstra said after the postponement. “Players were complaining about it on both sides, so, as a staff we went out there and pretty much immediately we thought it wasn’t playable. We have that in our practice facility (in Miami) when there is condensation, it takes about 15 minutes for it to change. But this is a huge building. We were’t optimistic it was going to change.”
No highlights yet…but there’s this https://t.co/yGsikikLkq pic.twitter.com/Qs7vZhVZPm
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 9, 2026
Roughly 25 minutes after the originally scheduled tip, United Center public address announcer Tim Sinclair relayed to fans that updates would continue to be provided as they developed.
By then, players from each team continued to shoot around. They took spot-up jumpers and broke into shooting games, all while arena staffers mopped up moisture around them. At one point, Bulls wing Isaac Okoro flung halfcourt shots behind his back like Benny the Bull. Shortly after that, the Bulls’ mascot reclaimed his act, impressing Miami guard Tyler Herro by sinking one from half court.
Two league sources said as of 7:30 p.m., a half hour into the delay, the humidity inside the United Center was nearly 60 percent — it’s typically at 30 percent. The ice rink under the floorboards, there for the Chicago Blackhawks, was melting along the edges of the floor.
Both teams were back in their locker rooms by 7:50 p.m., many of them shaking their heads that the game may not be played. At 8 p.m., brooms and towels were collecting so much water from the court that arena workers had to squeeze them over buckets.
Exactly one hour after the scheduled tip time, Herro emerged from the locker room, fingers laced atop his head while pacing the United Center halls. He posted underneath a 32-inch TV with a gaggle of security guards, eyes glued to the College Football Playoff semifinal.
By 8:15 p.m. CT, Sinclair relayed that another update would be provided at 8:30.
The Heat have been in Chicago since Wednesday morning and were scheduled to remain in the city until Friday afternoon before flying to Indianapolis for a game Saturday against the Pacers. The Bulls are also slated to be off Friday, but there’s a catch: The Blackhawks are slated to host the Washington Capitals at the United Center on Friday.
