The NBA, still grappling with a marathon regular season and the rise of load management, appears to be following the lead of another major sport's scheduling model.
The NBA's full season schedule was released on Wednesday, and it features 55 "baseball-style series" in which two teams play consecutive games at the same venue with no travel in between, according to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein.
The 55 such instances more than doubles the number of two-game sets from last season, when there were 23, Stein added. There are also 33 times when teams visiting New York or Los Angeles will play both the Knicks and Nets or Lakers and Clippers, respectively, before moving on.
The scheduling tweaks come after years of star players increasingly resting on back-to-backs and other demanding stretches of heavy travel -- colloquially known as "load management -- in order preserve their bodies.
Countless stars have voiced their concerns about the length of the regular season, which has long stood at 82 games. With a sixth-month regular season and two months of postseason play, the NBA season runs for eight months, and that's not even counting training camps and preseason action.
Commissioner Adam Silver has previously expressed frustration with load management and said he's not against shortening the regular season, but added that the potential loss in revenues would have to be offset with gains elsewhere.
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