The NBA schedule is a little bit easier on players.<\/p>\n
Fans might be catching a break \u2014 and some more sleep \u2014 as well.<\/p>\n
The league announced its 2019-20 schedule on Monday, featuring another dip in back-to-back games for teams and a major change in the number of nationally televised games starting at 10:30 p.m. on the East coast. Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers will start several games a half-hour earlier than usual, while broadcasters ESPN and Turner are going to earlier start times on many of their midweek doubleheader nights.<\/p>\n
Such a change has been on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver\u2019s mind for some time, especially since roughly half of the nation\u2019s television homes are in the East time zone \u2014 but now, a number of the league\u2019s biggest stars play on the West coast. It wasn\u2019t uncommon for nationally televised midweek games to end around 1 a.m. or even later last season, and that was not good for ratings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that I think we have to address,\u201d Silver said in May.<\/p>\n
And changes are definitely coming.<\/p>\n
ESPN\u2019s Wednesday doubleheaders \u2014 mostly at 8 and 10:30 p.m. last season \u2014 will begin at either 7 or 7:30 p.m., followed by a second game at either 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. in the East. TNT had nine Tuesday doubleheaders last season with the second game starting at 10:30; this season that number is down to two, with the second game now mostly starting at 9:30 or 10 p.m.<\/p>\n
In all, there were 57 games on national television starting at 10:30 p.m. last season. That number falls to 33 this season, a dip of 42 percent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, players might be getting a touch more rest this season as well. For the fifth straight year, the NBA has found a way to lower the average number of times a team has to play on consecutive days. The league average is 12.4 back-to-backs this season, down from 13.3 last year and 36 percent down from the average of 19.3 five years ago.<\/p>\n
Other highlights from the 2019-20 schedule:<\/p>\n
OPENING NIGHT<\/p>\n
Toronto will get its rings on Oct. 22, when it plays host to New Orleans and No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson. The Lakers \u2014 now featuring Anthony Davis to play alongside LeBron James \u2014 will play at the Clippers \u2014 now featuring Kawhi Leonard and Paul George \u2014 in the second half of that doubleheader, and that will be one of the 10:30 p.m. Eastern nationally televised midweek games that will otherwise be largely avoided this season.<\/p>\n
CHRISTMAS<\/p>\n
Toronto gets to host a Christmas game for the first time, playing host to Boston at noon Eastern. The other Christmas matchups (all times Eastern): Milwaukee at Philadelphia, 2:30 p.m.; Houston at Golden State, 5 p.m.; Clippers at Lakers, 8 p.m.; New Orleans at Denver, 10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY<\/p>\n
There are 14 games scheduled for Jan. 20, the day honoring the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., including the traditional home games for Atlanta (against Toronto) and Memphis (against New Orleans).<\/p>\n
EUROPE IN PRIME TIME<\/p>\n
The schedule features 48 games \u2014 24 on Saturdays, 24 on Sundays \u2014 that will air in prime time in Europe. That doesn\u2019t include the Jan. 24 game in Paris between Milwaukee and Charlotte.<\/p>\n
FOUR-IN-FIVES<\/p>\n
The stretches of four games in five days might be gone for good. This will be the third consecutive season where no team gets tasked with handling one of those. No team will play eight games in 12 days, either \u2014 though there are 19 instances of teams having to play five times in a span of seven days.<\/p>\n
CLOSING NIGHT<\/p>\n
The regular season ends with 13 games on April 15. Miami, Detroit, Denver and Utah all finish on April 14. The playoffs start April 18.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
More AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NBA<\/a> and https:\/\/twitter.com\/AP\u2014Sports<\/a><\/p>\n