Toughest NBA Schedule, 2025-26

30 teams ranked by schedule difficulty

Updated Fri, Jul 24, 7:00 AM EDT

The Schedule Difficulty Index scores every team on five equally-weighted measures of schedule tax — total travel miles, back-to-backs, 3-in-4 windows, time-zone crossings, and rest-disadvantage games — each normalized across the league. Higher is harder. Read the full travel board or how the travel data is calculated.

The difficulty board

Rank 1 = toughest · ties broken by miles

#	Team	Difficulty	Miles	B2B	3in4	Zone	Rest disadv.	Longest trip
1	DenverNuggetsDEN	80.0	47,900	17	21	42	13	7 gm · 3,940 mi
2	PhoenixSunsPHX	76.1	46,020	16	25	40	11	6 gm · 4,808 mi
3	MiamiHeatMIA	74.9	49,792	17	25	25	12	5 gm · 4,287 mi
4	Golden StateWarriorsGSW	69.5	48,453	16	22	30	14	6 gm · 5,093 mi
5	DallasMavericksDAL	58.8	47,209	15	25	32	8	6 gm · 4,138 mi
6	LAClippersLAC	57.7	49,670	15	22	28	11	7 gm · 6,872 mi
7	UtahJazzUTA	57.4	47,118	15	20	37	11	5 gm · 4,159 mi
8	PortlandTrail BlazersPOR	56.4	51,731	15	21	31	9	5 gm · 4,345 mi
9	WashingtonWizardsWAS	56.1	39,375	16	26	23	12	5 gm · 4,135 mi
10	New OrleansPelicansNOP	54.2	45,795	15	22	30	11	6 gm · 3,025 mi
11	OrlandoMagicORL	53.6	49,660	14	24	21	12	5 gm · 2,682 mi
12	MinnesotaTimberwolvesMIN	51.9	49,565	14	19	33	12	4 gm · 3,262 mi
13	San AntonioSpursSAS	50.5	48,810	15	19	32	10	5 gm · 1,804 mi
14	MemphisGrizzliesMEM	47.6	48,910	14	23	33	6	5 gm · 3,712 mi
15	HoustonRocketsHOU	46.7	47,525	14	22	32	8	6 gm · 4,301 mi
16	Los AngelesLakersLAL	46.3	45,740	14	23	29	9	8 gm · 4,539 mi
17	BrooklynNetsBKN	44.5	43,587	14	23	23	12	5 gm · 5,261 mi
18	MilwaukeeBucksMIL	44.0	38,257	15	24	37	6	5 gm · 2,266 mi
19	Philadelphia76ersPHI	43.5	37,678	16	23	20	12	5 gm · 4,454 mi
20	TorontoRaptorsTOR	40.7	39,956	15	24	21	10	5 gm · 4,561 mi
21	Oklahoma CityThunderOKC	39.7	44,173	14	18	33	11	5 gm · 2,593 mi
22	CharlotteHornetsCHA	39.5	37,325	16	23	21	10	5 gm · 3,611 mi
23	New YorkKnicksNYK	39.1	41,125	14	24	23	10	5 gm · 4,635 mi
24	BostonCelticsBOS	38.7	44,906	13	23	25	10	5 gm · 4,217 mi
25	SacramentoKingsSAC	38.7	43,970	14	21	24	11	6 gm · 3,422 mi
26	DetroitPistonsDET	35.8	41,890	14	21	24	11	5 gm · 3,575 mi
27	ChicagoBullsCHI	28.2	38,156	14	21	36	5	5 gm · 2,511 mi
28	AtlantaHawksATL	18.2	40,404	13	20	20	9	4 gm · 3,342 mi
29	ClevelandCavaliersCLE	16.0	38,079	14	20	23	6	5 gm · 4,835 mi
30	IndianaPacersIND	13.6	37,451	13	18	25	9	6 gm · 1,224 mi

The extremes

The season's heaviest single burdens

Longest road trip

The LA Clippers' longest haul: 7 games, 6,872 miles, Nov 14 – Nov 25.

Longest single hop

The season's longest single hop: London to Memphis, 4,371 miles.

Worst 7-day stretch

The Orlando Magic's worst week: 4 games and 6,329 miles in seven days, Jan 22 – Jan 28.

Most back-to-backs

The Denver Nuggets lead the league with 17 back-to-backs.

Most rest-disadvantage games

The Golden State Warriors face the most rest-disadvantage games — 14 nights on zero rest against a rested opponent.

Per-team travel maps and month-by-month splits live on each team travel page.

The Schedule Difficulty Index is the mean of five metrics — travel miles, back-to-backs, 3-in-4 windows, time-zone crossings, and rest-disadvantage games — each min-max normalized to 0–100 across the league's teams, then averaged with equal weight. See travel data & methodology for definitions, sourcing, and machine-readable downloads.