The NBA under commissioner Adam Silver has already proven to be responsive to player concerns about the stress of an 82-game season.
The league will be experimenting with an extended All-Star break for the mid-season exhibition, something Chris Paul and the players association have been wanting for years.
The concession on the league’s part is not without consequences as the same 82-game season will be played in four fewer days. That might not seem like a huge burden, but the effect will have ripples across schedules in the NBA.
There will not be more back-to-back games, but the frequency with which back-to-backs are scheduled in a given month may have some fans of teams with, should we say, more seasoned veterans some cause for concern.
The Miami Heat, one of the five oldest teams by roster age, are scheduled to play six sets of back-to-backs in November. One has to believe that having 11 of 15 games in November as part of a back-to-back set will have an affect on a chronically recuperating Dwyane Wade’s ability to stay on the court.
Luckily for Miami, they are tied with the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic for the fewest back-to-backs in the league this season.
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The Houston Rockets will play three sets of back-to-backs in a row in March. The team will travel to Atlanta then head back to Houston for two games before heading west for games against Denver, Portland, and Utah. If you’re counting at home, that’s six games in four time zones in nine nights.
Other scheduling anomalies include Atlanta’s five back-to-back sets in December, Boston’s seven in the last six weeks of the season and Golden State’s slate of six sets of back-to-backs in March.
In a longer All-Star break, players are finally getting something they have wanted for a long time. What they couldn’t have anticipated was the league not extending the season in order to accommodate the change.
The extended All-Star break is experimental for this season and if both the players and owners like the change it may be modified in the next collective bargaining agreement.
If there is a crazy amount of injuries to star players, we might see the players association fully embrace the hectic schedule of All-Star weekend.
