The brutality of the NBA schedule has once again become a hot button issue with Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr resting all of his top players Saturday for a nationally televised game against the San Antonio Spurs on the second end of a back-to-back. But apparently Kerr had already raised the issue with commissioner Adam Silver several months prior.
According to Tom Haberstroh of ESPN Saturday, Kerr spoke personally with Silver over the summer about this particular March stretch of Golden State’s schedule that has them currently in the midst of playing eight games in eight different cities over just 13 days but with more than 11,000 miles travelled.
Per Haberstroh’s report:
Kerr applauds Silver for his openness to this difficult topic. The league has agreed to stretch the season seven to ten days in 2017-18 and cut down on preseason games in addition to cutting down back-to-backs.
“What I really respect about Adam Silver is he’s been really proactive about trying to deal with this issue. He’s all ears when we talk to him.”
Kerr personally brought up this March stretch in a conversation with Silver this summer. What was Silver’s response? Kerr said Silver promised he’s working on it and the league was “going to do everything we can to lighten the load.”
“And I believe him.”
Silver definitely deserves praise for his willingness to address the issue, especially relative to his predecessor David Stern. But as long as NBA teams, be they the Golden State Warriors or the Brooklyn Nets, continue to face these kinds of grueling schedule quirks, there will still be plenty of work to be done.
