Report: NBA opening night to be 7-10 days earlier in 2017-18

The NBA is looking to expand their schedule.

In an effort to reduce back-to-backs, there's a strong likelihood that opening night for the NBA's 2017-18 regular season will be pushed back a week to 10 days, sources told Marc Stein of ESPN.

The league already tweaked their scheduling to drop the average number of back-to-backs per team from 17.8 in 2015-16 to 16.3 this season. Stretching out the regular season will further reduce back-to-back scenarios and the dreaded four-games-in-five-nights stretches.

In an effort to preserve their players, teams are increasingly warming to the idea of resting during taxing stretches of the schedule - a strategy first popularized by Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. Reducing back-to-backs should disincentivize the practice of resting star players, which has drawn the ire of fans.

It remains unclear how the league would carry out this elongated regular season, although chances are that the league will accommodate the extra dates by shortening the preseason.