The start of the NBA season has traditionally coincided with Halloween or the last few days of October, but has slowly been creeping up in recent years as the NBA tries to limit taxing back-to-back games or four games in five nights stretches for NBA teams.
They took a big step forward to that end this week as they have decided that October 17 will be the start of the 2017-18 season, eight days earlier than the 2016-17 season started.
Adam Silver said NBA season will start Oct. 17 this season. That's about 10 days earlier than usual.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) July 12, 2017
This is a great and very savvy move for the NBA. Adding an extra eight days to the schedule can go a long way in preventing player injuries, back-to-backs for NBA teams and will potentially help curb teams resting their star players as often during the season since they will be able to get more rest and sleep in between games.
The NBA’s desire to move the season start date up seven to 10 days was first reported by ESPN’s Marc Stein in December.
The NBA schedule won’t be released for another few weeks, but the league is reportedly attempting to give teams as much rest as possible the days before a nationally televised game in order to limit the amount of players resting for these marquee match-ups.
This is another solid move to increase player safety from the best commissioner in major American professional sports in Adam Silver.
The 2017-18 NBA season will be here before you know it…
