The Los Angeles Clippers are already facing an uphill battle next season with Kawhi Leonard on the sidelines. But the NBA scheduling gods aren't doing them any favors, either.
After a jam-packed NBA season last year, the Clippers have been given the most stretches wherein they'll have to play five games in seven days. They're tied with the Portland Trail Blazers with five such 5-in-7 stints next season, which seems like a ton given the fact that there are seven teams in the league who won't even have to do it once, according to Clips Nation's Sabreena Merchant.
In a response from a query posed by Merchant on the Clippers' 5-in-7 situation, NBA executive Evan Wasch, who's commonly dubbed as the “scheduling czar”, had this to say:
“They have 5, there is another team with 5, there is another team with 4, and there are many teams with 3. We are not mean to the Clippers. 5-in-7s are just one of many, many metrics that one can use to evaluate the schedule.”
Wasch emphasizes that there are a ton of factors they look at in order to maintain parity among team's scheduling quirks. When one team is given one burden to bear, such as the Clippers' league-leading 5-in-7 total, they're given reprieve in other factors.
“We look at everything from the travel miles to the total number of back to backs, the no travel back-to-backs; so the Clippers, for example, play five no travel back-to-backs, meaning either home/home or in the same city, which is among the highest in the league, so we try to look at team’s schedules in totality.”
Here's to hoping the Clippers are able to navigate those perilous 5-in-7 waters carefully and keep everyone relatively fresh. Tyronn Lue will definitely have his work cut out for him next season.
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