The league has released the official team schedules for the 2015/16 NBA season this evening. One of the primary goals the league had in creating this year’s schedule was to reduce the number of back-to-back games and four games in five days that NBA teams play, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. In an effort to reduce wear and tear on the players the NBA was able to cut the average amount of back-to-backs per team from 19.3 last season to 17.8 for 2015/16. Other changes include reducing the amount of four games in five days teams will play from 2.3 in 2014/15 to .9 this coming season, as well as reducing the distance each team will be required to travel by 2%, according to Zillgitt.
“I think this is the best schedule that we’ve ever produced,” NBA senior vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe told Zillgitt. “We are extremely mindful of player rest, recuperation and we were able to reduce four games in five nights and back-to-backs to all-time lows. We want to be mindful of putting the best product on the floor that we possibly can. The rigors of an NBA season are tough. Nobody denies that.”
Listed below are links to the full 2015/16 season schedules for each NBA team organized by Conference and Division:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
Central Division
Southeast Division
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest Division
Pacific Division
Southwest Division
There were so many devastating injuries to star players last season. I hope this less-taxing schedule makes a difference.
I’m not sure it will. I think they did the best they could and made incremental changes, but a real impact won’t come until they extend the season. I think we’ll ultimately two more weeks of the regular season and two fewer weeks of preseason.