Too much travel if NBA changes playoffs

The NBA estimates an increase of 65,000 kilometres of travel in the post-season if it scrapped its conference format and took the top 16 teams.

Calls to change the system were renewed this week when LeBron James left Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers, which could create another strong Western Conference team, where both Houston and Golden State finished above .700. The only team in the Eastern Conference with a similar record was Toronto.

Houston and Golden State met in a thrilling West final before the Warriors swept the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

Commissioner Adam Silver has said ideally there would be a format allowing the two best teams to meet for the title, but he has repeatedly expressed concern about the additional travel created if teams were seeded 1 to 16 in the post-season, instead of the top eight teams in each conference.

“I think, as I’ve said in the past, the obstacle is travel, and it’s not tradition in my mind, at least,” Silver said at the all-star break.

The league says it averages about 145,000 km of travel in the postseason and estimates that would increase to 210,000. It estimates, based on historical data, an average of 21/2 series per year matching teams separated by three time zones before the NBA Finals, with about a 90 per cent chance of at least one per season.

The WNBA switched its playoff format to the top eight teams instead of by conference in 2016.

A 1-to-16 format would likely mean the league would have to balance the schedule so teams played the same amount of games in the regular season against East and West teams, instead of playing more against the teams on its side. That would create about 240,000 additional kilometres of travel in the regular season, the league estimates, from the 2.25 million km of total travel in 2017-18.

“It’s still my hope that we’re going to figure out ways,” Silver said.