NBA players, particularly the ones that get into the All-Star Game, have asked for this for a while — a longer mid-season break to rest their bodies and recharge for the home stretch and the playoffs.
They got it.
As has been rumored, there will be a week-long All-Star break around the mid-season game in New York this year with a break from Feb. 12-19, the NBA revealed when it released the schedule Wednesday afternoon. Most teams and players will have a little more than that, eight or nine days off around the Feb. 15 All-Star Game in New York.
If you think that means things will be quiet around the NBA guess again — that is the time of the trade deadline. That’s what everybody really wants to talk about in February anyway, now there just won’t be any of those pesky games to get in the way of trade rumors.
The longer break is something a lot of coaches and players wanted. NBA players union president Chris Paul specifically had talked about.
Players voted in by fans or picked by coaches complained they really didn’t get time off — they would play Wednesday or Thursday, fly to the city of the game, have mandatory events Friday, Saturday and the game Sunday, then fly back Monday for a Tuesday game (or at least practice). More than the physical side of it, there was a feeling there was no mental break.
Now everybody gets a week to let the bumps and bruises of the season heal for a week, preparing for the stretch drive.
The league is considering this an experiment — they will try it for a year and go from there.
This is something the players have wanted, but if you think the owners aren’t going to bring it up and ask for a little something back during the next CBA negotiations you haven’t been paying attention.