The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 124-116 on Wednesday night at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
The Lakers then had to hop on a plane and fly to Miami to face the Heat on Thursday in a back-to-back. However, the Lakers didn’t get to their hotel in Miami until 5 a.m., and tip-off for the game against the Heat is at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.
The Los Angeles Lakers, who play tonight at 8 pm local in Miami, arrived at their hotel South Florida after 5 a.m. folllowing their win Wednesday night in Houston (a game that started at 8:30 pm central).
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) March 19, 2026
While the NBA has been attempting to limit back-to-backs over recent years, this latest scheduling mishap brought similar complaints from a number of fans.
This is a brutal second leg of a back to back, have to minimize this when making the schedule. Can't have that long of a trip for the last leg of a back to back especially after a national tv game! https://t.co/6vEXdHBObs
— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) March 19, 2026
Bad league https://t.co/cV01tpKLwa
— 500 🏎 (@Kameron_Hay) March 19, 2026
This is ridiculous. Ban b2b games @NBA. Lakers should sit out all the starters. https://t.co/FEJFEKv77l
— ASH (@mnm71809) March 19, 2026
This why i said the schedule was messed up. Why have a b2b Hou to Mia when the b2b could’ve been Mia & Orl https://t.co/RAy7Z83azo
— 👑King Slaya⚔️ (@TruuGawd) March 19, 2026
Idk how the NBA thought this was smart. https://t.co/v0pKG0iplE
— O’Rich (@ZuluSixFour) March 19, 2026
The Lakers-Rockets game tipped off at 6:30 p.m. local time in Houston on Wednesday night, and the entire LA starting lineup played more than 30 minutes each in the win.
It is also notable that the Lakers’ next game is against the Orlando Magic on Saturday on the road, so the NBA schedulemakers could’ve made the Heat and Magic as the back-to-back instead of sending the Lakers from Texas to Florida in one night.
The Lakers’ most recent back-to-back came on March 5 and 6, when they faced the Denver Nuggets in Colorado before taking on the Indiana Pacers in LA the next day.
At the end of the day, this isn’t a great look for the NBA, and perhaps the schedule makers will try to minimize such travel issues going forward.
