With the start of the 2023-24 season right around the corner, I decided to look at how far each team is scheduled to travel throughout the season (roughly). I say roughly as we have the new in-season tournament this year so we don’t have the full schedule due to the unscheduled knockout rounds. This means the analysis is incomplete, nevertheless, you can find a summary table of the total distance each team will roughly travel.

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Rank Team Total Distance (km)
1 Los Angeles Clippers 80,882
2 Brooklyn Nets 75,512
3 Portland Trail Blazer 73,356
4 Denver Nuggets 72,600
5 Minnesota Timberwolves 72,371
6 Sacramento Kings 72,364
7 Miami Heat 70,038
8 Golden State Warriors 67,646
9 New Orleans Pelicans 67,262
10 San Antonio Spurs 66,931
11 Boston Celtics 66,895
12 Los Angeles Lakers 66,846
13 Memphis Grizzlies 66,582
14 Phoenix Suns 65,665
15 Orlando Magic 65,568
16 Oklahoma City Thunder 65,030
17 Dallas Mavericks 63,994
18 Philadelphia 76ers 63,435
19 New York Knicks 62,671
20 Utah Jazz 62,593
21 Cleveland Cavaliers 61,513
22 Atlanta Hawks 60,691
23 Houston Rockets 60,554
24 Chicago Bulls 59,218
25 Washington Wizards 58,378
26 Charlotte Hornets 57,840
27 Milwaukee Bucks 55,456
28 Detriot Pistons 54,302
29 Indiana Pacers 53,480
30 Toronto Raptors 52,411

Each distance is calculated from stadium to stadium along a line of minimum distance. It’s also assumed that a team will only travel from one game to the next, so everyone sleeps at the stadium until they’re set to play their next game - no going home (or anywhere else) between games (sorry teams!).

For example, the Lakers play the Nuggets on opening night, so their travel distance is from their home stadium to the Nuggets’ stadium (1,337 km). In the analysis, the Lakers will stay at the Nuggets’ stadium until the next game, where they travel directly from the Nuggets’ stadium back home (1,337 km). The total distance travelled is 1,337 + 1,337 = 2,674 km and so on and so on until we get the above numbers.

I’ve also made an interactive dashboard in Tableau where you can dive deeper into the distance analysis at the link below. If you enjoy it and fancy helping me out, nominate it for “Viz of the Day” using the little ribbon button in the top right of the dashboard.

NBA Schedule 2023-24 Dashboard

TL;DR The Clippers are scheduled to travel the furthest total distance (80,882 km) this season with the Raptors scheduled to travel the least (52,411 km).

  • k120200206@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    How did the Lakers get 66k, but the Clippers 80k? That’s a huge difference for two teams from the same city.

  • JoJonesy@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Raptors being the least is wild considering they’re the only team not based in the US

    i mean geographically they’re actually pretty central but it’s still weird

    • SpiritLifter6@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I found that wild as well! Could be that the NBA plan the Raptors’ games more strictly to minimise the amount of country swapping they need to do?

      • hi818@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        It’s probably a correlation between the two, the other teams near the raptors are also low on travel distance, and it is known that players and teams find it a hassle to go through border security. The raptors happen to be pretty central to other east teams, combined with the NBA attempting to limit the border crossing that players from raptors and other teams go through. Which also means that Raptors will have long periods of he games, followed by long periods of road trips if im correct

      • SophisticatedBalls@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Could be but also like the other guy said, Toronto is pretty central. Super close to Cleveland and Detroit and generally not that far from Milwaukee, NY, Philly, etc. For reference, Toronto is closer to Cleveland and Detroit than LA is to any other NBA City.

  • dys0n_giddey@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    lol The Clippers travelling the most even tho they have a team in their city is hilarious

    And it’s not like Sac/Warriors/Suns etc aren’t relatively close 😂

    • Pndrizzy@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Even compared to Lakers, who are based on the same damn arena, they’re way worse off lol

      • Doc_Golf@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        There was an article in the LA Times (I think) how the Clippers have been screwed over the last couple of years on scheduling when it was announced they we’re getting their own arena. It was always bad for them anyway as they got the short end on scheduling behind the Lakers and the Kings(NHL). Arena owners, AEG, were not going to do any favors for Ballmer.