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Less travel is causing the NBA to see better basketball

23 September 2020
 Dan Ackermann

In addition to keeping out the coronavirus, the NBA bubble has also delivered a stellar on-court product, with crisp, entertaining play night in and night out.

Why it matters: General managers, athletic trainers and league officials believe the lack of travel is a driving force behind the high quality of play — an observation that could lead to scheduling changes for next season and beyond.

  • "This is the advantage that we have not had," one team health official told ESPN's Baxter Holmes. "We're always tired, [but in the bubble] our guys have been rested ... We've been able to get them recovered again and again."
  • Another health official said the quality of play has some rethinking the concept of load management. Before, they thought heavy minutes were the leading cause of fatigue. Now? "It might actually just be the travel."

The intrigue: On a call last month with commissioner Adam Silver and all 30 GMs, the concept of teams traveling to cities to play two games in a short span next season was discussed, according to Holmes.

  • These baseball-like homestands could lead to better play, while reducing travel amid the pandemic and leveling the playing field for coastal teams who typically travel more than their peers.

The big picture: The NBA has made efforts to reduce travel in recent years by creating more rest days and eliminating four-in-five stretches, but its teams still travel more than other major North American sports teams.

By the numbers: During the 2018-19 season, NBA teams traveled an average of 43,534 miles, nearly 7% more than NHL teams (40,768), 36% more than MLB teams (31,993) and 441% more than NFL teams (8,049).

  • As a result, sleep deprivation is "our biggest issue without a solution," one high-ranking league source told ESPN last October. "It's the dirty little secret that everybody knows about."

The bottom line: The pandemic has hurt sports leagues financially, but it also exposed inefficiencies and forced changes that could stick around. If the NBA can make something like homestands work, who wouldn't want better-rested players?

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.