{"id":621675,"date":"2026-02-24T10:30:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T10:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/621675\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T10:30:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T10:30:43","slug":"new-york-city-blizzard-forces-dallas-mavericks-rookie-cooper-flagg-to-postpone-tonight-show-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/621675\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Blizzard Forces Dallas Mavericks Rookie Cooper Flagg To Postpone \u2018Tonight Show\u2019 Appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York City blizzard impacting the Northeast has now altered more than just NBA travel plans. It has also forced Dallas Mavericks<\/a> rookie Cooper Flagg<\/a> to postpone his scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.<\/p>\n

Flagg had been slated to appear Monday, Feb. 23, at 10:30 p.m. CST on NBC alongside Tracy Morgan, Neve Campbell, and musical guest TWICE. However, with the Dallas Mavericks unable to travel from Indianapolis into New York City due to the storm, the appearance will no longer take place as scheduled.<\/p>\n

More than 5,000 flights across the United States were canceled Monday, including over 1,000 at LaGuardia Airport alone. Local officials issued urgent warnings advising residents to avoid non-essential travel, while NJ Transit suspended rail and bus service, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reported severe delays and disruptions. With both the Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets stranded out of market, the league\u2019s Tuesday game in Brooklyn also remains weather-dependent.<\/p>\n

Blizzard Disrupts Travel, Alters Cooper Flagg\u2019s National Spotlight Moment<\/p>\n

The Mavericks practiced Monday in Indianapolis but ultimately opted to remain overnight rather than attempt uncertain travel into the New York area. <\/p>\n

Head coach Jason Kidd<\/a> acknowledged the uncertainty following Sunday\u2019s 134-130 win over the Indiana Pacers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might not be able to get there \u2014 so it\u2019s all good. I\u2019m joking,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cThe weather \u2014 I don\u2019t know why we\u2019re going to be affected and you\u2019re going to be affected. Tomorrow\u2019s going to be a long day. We can\u2019t leave until the evening and there\u2019s no guarantee. We\u2019ve been in this situation before. Hopefully we can get out and get to New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

With no viable travel window on Monday evening, Flagg\u2019s late-night television debut became collateral damage of the broader storm system. The appearance would have marked another milestone in what has already been a headline-generating rookie season.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg\u2019s Rookie Season Continues to Draw National Attention<\/p>\n

Through 49 games, Flagg is averaging 20.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in 34.1 minutes per game while shooting 48.2% from the field and 80.4% from the free-throw line. He leads Dallas with 999 total points and has been deployed extensively as a point-forward, entrusted with late-game creation duties.<\/p>\n

Drafted No. 1 overall in 2025, the 19-year-old became the youngest player in NBA history to score 40 points in a game and later set the teenage single-game scoring record with 49 points in January. That 49-point, 10-rebound performance made him the first rookie since Michael Jordan<\/a> in 1985 to post a 49-and-10 line.<\/p>\n

Flagg is currently recovering from a left midfoot sprain suffered before the All-Star break. He has missed multiple games and remains on a day-to-day evaluation timeline. Kidd recently indicated that Flagg had progressed in workouts and would continue to be assessed during the current road trip. <\/p>\n

For now, both his return to game action and his late-night television debut will depend on factors outside the Mavericks\u2019 control. <\/p>\n

With the New York City blizzard continuing to disrupt travel, Dallas will monitor conditions while awaiting clarity on Tuesday\u2019s matchup in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Latest Dallas Mavericks News & Trade Rumors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York City blizzard impacting the Northeast has now altered more than just NBA travel plans. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,247,225,686,149,4057,3716,166,81866,6,3101,81867,81868],"class_list":{"0":"post-621675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn-nets","10":"tag-cooper-flagg","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-mavericks","13":"tag-dallasmavericks","14":"tag-jason-kidd","15":"tag-mavericks","16":"tag-mavericks-travel-update","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nba-news","19":"tag-new-york-city-blizzard","20":"tag-the-tonight-show-starring-jimmy-fallon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116125147093040583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}