The NBA is increasingly realizing the importance of sleep.
The league is also playing a compressed schedule and frequently testing for coronavirus in order to keep revenue flowing amid this pandemic.
Though coronavirus cases and postponements have garnered significant attention, even standard procedure this season has caused major complications.
Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, in a Q&A with Chris Kirschner of The Athletic:
What would you say has been the most challenging part this season for you?
The circumstances in which we’re playing in. Keeping our mental health. You come off a back-to-back and you have to get tested in the morning. You don’t get enough sleep after the game. You sleep for four hours. There have been a lot of injuries this year, but it’s OK. We are all in this together and everyone is in the same situation. I just hope we will get out of this as soon as possible.
I didn’t realize you guys were sleeping that little some nights. Sleeping four hours and then doing a strenuous physical activity is hard.
Sometimes you have these back-to-back games, then you have to get tested early in the morning. You fly and you land at 1. You can get to sleep by 3 hopefully after you take a shower, unpack and your adrenaline goes down after playing a game. Then you have to get tested at 9, which means you have to wake up at 8. That’s the tough part of this.
Testing is essential to the NBA's operation. Without testing, the league wouldn't continue to generate the money that pays players' salaries. So, this is an acceptable tradeoff.
But that doesn't make a lack of sleep a non-issue.
Maybe it has contributed to the numerous blowouts and less-effective defense this season.
