Report: 4 games in 5 nights almost eliminated in draft of 2015-16 schedule

A sliver of light emerged from the end of the dark tunnel of the NBA offseason Monday, as the South Florida Sun Sentinel's Ira Winderman reported the official 2015-16 schedule should be unveiled in two weeks.

First, the league's 30 teams will review a draft schedule, circulated recently. That draft schedule is nearly free of four-game-in-five-night stretches, sources told Zach Lowe of Grantland.

This elimination (or close to it) would be a welcomed change across the Association, as those compressed scheduling periods have been one of the biggest points of contention among players in recent years.

Many have voiced their displeasure with the scheduling throughout the past year, saying it contributed to increased fatigue and a higher likelihood of injury. Complaints came from the likes of Mavericks' star Dirk Nowitzki and owner Mark Cuban, as well as players union exec James Jones, to name a few.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been transparent about the league's intention to mitigate the issue.

Over the past three seasons, an average of 2.8 percent of teams' games were part of four-game-in-five-night stretches. In the past two decades, lockouts cut short two separate seasons, subsequently resulting in extremely compressed schedules. The 2011-12 campaign saw 11 percent of games occur within the dreaded 4-in-5 format. In 1998-99, the figure was 15 percent, the highest it's been since 1974.

From 1999-2000 to 2002-03, the total number of 4-in-5s, combining every game played by all 29 teams (pre-expansion), consistently registered in the 101-106 range (out of 2378 total games played).

In 2014-15, the league managed to scale this number down to 70.

If the league office has indeed managed to almost completely do away with this particular element of its grueling programming, players, coaches and training staff alike will have reason to rejoice.