As a lifelong NBA enthusiast and sports analyst who's been covering the league for over a decade, I've learned that understanding the schedule is like having a roadmap to the entire season. When the 2019-20 NBA schedule dropped last August, I immediately noticed something remarkable - we were looking at one of the most balanced schedules in recent memory, with fewer back-to-backs and no four-games-in-five-nights scenarios for any team. The league office really listened to player concerns about fatigue and travel, reducing back-to-backs to an average of just 12.4 per team compared to 13.3 the previous season. That's not just a minor adjustment - that's a significant quality-of-life improvement for players and consequently for us fans watching better-rested athletes.
The opening week alone gave us enough storylines to last until Christmas, with Zion Williamson's debut (though delayed due to injury), Kawhi Leonard returning to Toronto as a champion, and the Lakers' revamped roster taking their first steps toward what would become a championship run. I remember circling October 22nd on my calendar months in advance - that opening night matchup between the Lakers and Clippers wasn't just another game, it felt like the start of a new era for LA basketball. The intensity in that building was palpable even through television screens, and I can tell you from talking to people who were there, the atmosphere was more playoff-like than regular season.
What fascinates me about analyzing schedules is how they create natural narratives throughout the season. The Christmas Day slate featured five games that seemed perfectly curated - from the Celtics-Raptors Eastern Conference showdown to the Rockets-Warriors rivalry that had defined the Western Conference for years. Personally, I believe the league got the Christmas matchups exactly right last season, though I would have loved to see the Mavericks get a holiday game given Luka Dončić's emerging superstardom. The scheduling team clearly prioritized storylines and rivalries, which makes for compelling television but also creates these natural measuring sticks throughout the season where teams can gauge their progress against elite competition.
The scheduling philosophy reminds me somewhat of tournament structures in other sports, like the volleyball matches happening in Dasmariñas City where the Foxies (A3) faced the winless Solar Spikers (B6) followed by the Crossovers (B3) against the cellar-dwelling Highrisers (A6). These knockout formats create immediate drama, much like the NBA's decision to front-load the schedule with compelling matchups. Both approaches understand that you need to capture audience attention early and maintain momentum throughout the season. The NBA schedule strategically places rivalry games at optimal times - the Celtics-Lakers matchup in January, for instance, came right when both teams were hitting their stride, making it more meaningful than if it had occurred in early December.
From a pure basketball perspective, the spacing of games allowed for proper rest and preparation in ways we hadn't seen in previous seasons. Teams actually had time to practice between games, which I think contributed to the overall quality of play we witnessed. As someone who's tracked league-wide offensive and defensive ratings for years, I noticed the efficiency numbers were up across the board, and I attribute at least part of that to the more sensible scheduling. The players I've spoken with consistently mentioned how much they appreciated the reduced back-to-backs, with one All-Star telling me privately that it made a "noticeable difference" in their ability to recover between games.
The national television selections revealed which teams the league and networks believed would drive viewership, with the Lakers leading with 31 nationally televised games, followed by the Warriors with 26. While these numbers made sense given the star power involved, I've always felt the schedule sometimes overexposes certain markets at the expense of emerging teams. The Grizzlies, for example, only had 5 nationally televised games despite having one of the most exciting young cores in the league. This imbalance affects how casual fans perceive the league landscape, creating narratives that don't always reflect the actual competitive balance.
When we look at key matchups from that season, certain games stand out not just for their entertainment value but for how they shaped the eventual playoff picture. The Bucks-Raptors series in November gave us an early preview of what might have been a conference finals matchup, while the Rockets-Clippers games always delivered drama given the history between those franchises. My personal favorite matchup that season was the Nuggets-Jazz series in late August during the bubble - those seven games represented basketball at its purest, with both teams fighting for playoff positioning in incredibly competitive contests.
The schedule also had to accommodate the unprecedented pause in March and the subsequent bubble restart in Orlando, which created the most unique closing stretch to any season in NBA history. From my perspective covering the league, the way the schedule was reconfigured for the bubble was nothing short of brilliant - they managed to create meaningful basketball while prioritizing player safety, something I'm not sure any other major sports league accomplished as effectively. The seeding games had playoff intensity, the play-in tournament concept worked beautifully, and the actual playoffs maintained their traditional structure despite the unusual circumstances.
Reflecting on that entire season, the schedule served as both roadmap and character test for teams. The challenges of travel, back-to-backs, extended road trips, and then the bubble environment separated contenders from pretenders in ways we rarely see. The Lakers' championship was earned through navigating one of the most unusual schedules in sports history, proving that adaptability and mental toughness matter just as much as talent. As we look toward future seasons, I hope the league maintains the player-friendly scheduling approach while continuing to create compelling matchup arcs that tell the story of each season. The 2019-20 schedule, for all its unexpected twists, ultimately delivered one of the most memorable seasons in NBA history, proving that while we can plan the schedule, the real magic happens when the games begin.
