On December 30 , 2000 , NBC aired a rare second December game . The Saturday match was the only time that NBC aired a game between Christmas Day and the start of the regular run of games in February . In 2001 , NBC was scheduled to air an October preseason game involving an NBA team playing an international team ; that game was canceled due to the September 11 attacks . During the 2001 – 02 NBA season , NBC added a significant number of Washington Wizards games to its schedule ( due to the aforementioned return of Michael Jordan ) . When Jordan became injured during the middle of the season , the network replaced the added Wizards games with the games that had been originally on the schedule ( for example , a March 2002 game between the Wizards and Orlando Magic was replaced at the last minute with an Indiana Pacers – Sacramento Kings game )
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
NBA on NBC