NBA back-to-backs: teams feel it, scorers don't
Do teams lose more on the second night of a back-to-back — and do their players score less?
Teams won 46.5% of back-to-back second nights and 50.8% otherwise (z = -2.4). But players who suited up scored +0.11 points vs their own average (z = 1.4) — no drop. The likely reason is load management: the most tired players sit, so they never appear in the back-to-back sample at all.
How we measured it · 36,382 player-games · 4,860 team-games▾
NBA 2024-25 and 2025-26 regular seasons. Back-to-back = team played the previous day (from each team's game dates). Player rows: 15+ minutes, players with 20+ such games, scored against their own season average.
