NBA limits back-to-backs, 4-in-5s on 2016-17 schedule

The NBA continues to make strides in softening its regular-season schedule in an effort to protect its players' bodies.

In the 2016-17 schedule released Thursday, the league reduced the number of back-to-backs for each team, and all but eliminated the dreaded four games in five nights stretches.

No NBA team this coming season will play more than 18 back-to-backs.

Players would likely still prefer fewer, but for reference, four teams last season played 20 back-to-backs, and the league average was 17.8. The season prior, teams averaged 19.3 back-to-backs.

In addition, no team will have more than one four-in-five stretch. Ten teams won't have any.

In total, there will be just 20 such scheduling hitches, which is down from 27 a season ago. The NBA did most of the heavy lifting on that front last year, when they reduced the total number of four-in-fives from the 70 that were played in 2014-15.

The NBA's rigorous schedule has long been a point of contention, with mounting injury concerns becoming a focal point in recent years.

This past June, ESPN's Baxter Holmes and Tom Haberstroh published a report revealing that the number of 2016 postseason games missed by rotation players (defined as players in their teams' top seven in minutes per game) was the highest total of the past two decades.