RESOLVING THE LEDGER
RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The 2026-27 NBA schedule is here , with the league's 30 teams set to travel all across the United States to play hundreds of total games throughout the season.
The exact number of miles flown across 80 regular-season games varies from year to year, and the teams saddled with the most airborne time vary too. But this season, there are two clear losers, with the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs set to travel more miles than any other teams.
According to an analysis from Claude, the Pelicans will top the league with an estimated 55,529 miles flown, while the Spurs are next with 53,947. It's a notable jump compared to the next nearest team — the Utah Jazz, who are set to fly 49,289.
The reason for the discrepancy is pretty simple: New Orleans and San Antonio are the two teams that have been designated to cross the pond in January, playing a game in Paris and another in Manchester. Those two round-trip flights alone will add about 9,500 miles each to each team's total; if you take those amounts out, both teams would sit closer to the middle of the table.
Team
Conference
Est. air miles
No. of Flights
Longest single flight
New Orleans Pelicans
West
55,529
59
Miami to Paris
San Antonio Spurs
West
53,947
58
Manchester to San Antonio
Utah Jazz
West
49,289
59
Utah to Miami
Sacramento Kings
West
48,637
57
Sacramento to Boston
Denver Nuggets
West
47,924
57
Philadelphia to Utah
Miami Heat
East
47,889
56
Miami to Los Angeles
Los Angeles Clippers
West
47,451
57
Brooklyn to Los Angeles
Minnesota Timberwolves
West
47,310
57
Minnesota to San Francisco
Houston Rockets
West
46,396
56
Houston to Portland
Portland Trail Blazers
West
46,329
51
Philadelphia to Portland
Memphis Grizzlies
West
46,097
61
Portland to Memphis
Golden State Warriors
West
45,659
53
New York to San Francisco
Oklahoma City Thunder
West
44,789
57
Boston to Oklahoma City
Dallas Mavericks
West
44,776
57
Orlando to San Francisco
Phoenix Suns
West
44,640
55
Phoenix to New York
Los Angeles Lakers
West
43,717
52
Philadelphia to Los Angeles
Orlando Magic
East
43,532
56
Orlando to Portland
Milwaukee Bucks
East
42,348
60
Milwaukee to Los Angeles
Philadelphia 76ers
East
41,320
62
Philadelphia to Los Angeles
Boston Celtics
East
41,283
57
Los Angeles to Boston
Cleveland Cavaliers
East
39,351
60
Portland to Cleveland
Brooklyn Nets
East
37,596
56
Los Angeles to New York
Indiana Pacers
East
37,248
59
Indiana to San Francisco
Atlanta Hawks
East
37,092
56
Atlanta to Portland
Charlotte Hornets
East
36,969
58
Charlotte to Portland
Detroit Pistons
East
36,380
58
Detroit to Los Angeles
Chicago Bulls
East
36,230
58
Chicago to Sacramento
Washington Wizards
East
35,744
55
San Francisco to Washington, D.C.
Toronto Raptors
East
35,455
56
Toronto to Los Angeles
New York Knicks
East
35,134
55
Sacramento to New York
(Mileages are based on the estimated flight path between the two arenas, including an added 4% margin to account for outside factors like weather. The measurements assume that teams are flying directly between cities and do not count transport to and from the airport.)
Notably, the 15 Western Conference teams have to travel further than 14 of the 15 Eastern Conference teams, with every team in the West traveling above the league average. That's a trend that can be attributed to the size of the western half of the country, with NBA teams in the West significantly more spread out than on the cramped East Coast.
The sole Eastern exception is the Miami Heat, who will travel the sixth-most of any team in the NBA. Miami's furthest trip will be from South Florida to Los Angeles to play the Los Angeles Lakers, which they'll do ahead of a matchup in L.A. on Nov. 2.
The rest of the East, though, won't see nearly as much travel. The team with the fewest miles to travel is the New York Knicks, with the defending champions only set to travel 36,539 miles throughout the season. The Toronto Raptors are right behind them, with a difference of just over 300 miles between the two.
The longest flights in the league are largely (and logically) to the teams based the furthest west, such as the Portland Trail Blazers and the two Los Angeles teams. However, none of those three teams cracked the top five, likely due to the league’s scheduling focusing on reducing excessive travel.
The Trail Blazers boosted the league's two longest homestands with back-to-back games at the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Memphis Grizzlies. Notably, Portland is also estimated to have the fewest individual flights, with 51; the Lakers are right ahead of them with 52.
All of these dates and logistics are subject to change, and with the later games in the NBA Cup still to be established, those numbers could stretch even further before the end of the regular season. But a glimpse at the kind of intense travel that NBA players will be going through this year is a good thing to keep in mind.
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AIPROPX — “NBA schedule release: Pelicans and Spurs will fly the most miles in 2026-27 season, Knicks will travel the least” · https://www.aipropx.com/story/3741dae5d9cc7b16e1b6368130c5166a
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