Playing sporting events in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is such a daunting prospect that the National Basketball Association is bracing to relocate its local franchise for the entire coming season.

The NBA does not begin play until November, but the deputy commissioner Russ Granik sent an e-mail message to the league's 30 teams yesterday to prepare them for the Hornets' possible relocation.

"Even if the arena is operable, it still may be impossible to play games in New Orleans for some time," Granik wrote in the e-mail message, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.

Granik's e-mail message said that plans were already under way to find locations for the Hornets' training camp, which starts Oct. 3, and preseason games. The league will begin searching for regular-season alternatives next week, when there is expected to be a better analysis of the damage to New Orleans. If the Hornets are forced to relocate - whether for a few weeks or the entire season - the league will seek to place them close to home.

L.S.U. offers the closest alternative, about 60 miles away, and an arena, Pete Maravich Assembly Center, that holds 14,164 people. That is small by NBA standards, but it could accommodate the Hornets, whose average attendance last season was a league-worst 14,221.

"Right now, we're kind of all focused on the humanitarian relief effort and haven't really focused on the implications yet for the Hornets," said Tim Andree, senior vice president for communications for the NBA.

All Hornets employees have been accounted for and are safe, Andree said. But it has been an anxious time for friends and associates, who have had difficulty reaching Hornets employees and players.

"I have not been able to get a hold of anyone," said Mark Bartelstein, a player agent whose clients include Hornets forward P. J. Brown. "We've been calling pretty much nonstop and have had no luck making contact."