Adam Silver Says 2017-18 NBA Season Will Start on Oct. 17

As the NBA seeks ways to avoid players resting during games, commissioner Adam Silver announced the 2017-18 regular season will begin earlier than normal. 

Per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, Silver said on Wednesday that next season will kick off on Oct. 17, eight days earlier than the 2016-17 season started.   

The decision to start next season earlier has been in the works for some time, as Marc Stein reported for ESPN.com last December. The NBA has been hoping to schedule games between 7-10 earlier than last season. 

The goal of starting the regular season earlier is to eliminate the number of back-to-back games teams are forced to play. 

Resting players became a hot topic of discussion in the NBA after the Cleveland Cavaliers sat LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving for a Saturday primetime game on ABC against the Los Angeles Clippers. 

In April, Silver said players sitting out games was the league's biggest issue, per USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. 

The NBA has yet to announce the regular-season schedule for next season.