Mavs owner isn’t afraid to make his ideas known…
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has insisted that NBA commissioner Adam Silver is open to making changes to the schedule to eliminate back-to-back games.
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Cuban revealed that rather than reducing the number of games in the regular season which currently stands at 82 per team, the idea of getting rid of back-to-back games and three games in four nights in certain weeks is a realistic prospect which in turn would see the season extended into the summer.
“I’ve been bringing it up for years. [Commissioner Adam Silver is] more open to it, and he’s going to be considering it. Everybody’s for it now,” he said, ESPN reports.
Last year, both LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki had called for the number of games to be reduced in order to ease the pressure on the players. However, NBA owners are against that idea and so alternatives will need to be discussed.
Cuban believes that stretching the schedule out is an ideal resolution, with NBA teams currently having between 16 and 20 back-to-backs per season.
By adding a week or two to the schedule, it will give the league the ability to space games out in order to allow players to rest and for coaches to get more practice sessions in between to build on ideas and improvements within each respective roster.
“I’d rather us go later in the season into July,” Cuban added.
“Used to be, we had to be concerned about baseball. Now we don’t. Baseball, particularly from a media perspective, has become regional, so it doesn’t negatively impact us from a national TV perspective to go late.”
Taking the San Antonio Spurs as a perfect example, albeit potentially not a relevant one as of next season depending on retirements, coach Gregg Popovich hates the packed schedule as it invariably means he has to rest veteran players such as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.
While that has an impact on his team’s chances, it also upsets fans who want to see full strength teams when they come to town and so Silver will likely get support from across the league for the new plan.
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