Today, NBA players enjoy the luxuries they receive on road trips. During these trips, they get pampered on first-class charter flights, bond with their teammates over cards and video games and simply clear their minds before their big game.
However, these simple delights were once a luxury that many NBA players and teams – literally – could not afford in the past.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBack then, transporting teams was so hectic that some players, especially those in small-market organizations, used to worry about missing games. Before booking private jets, some teams arrived at games on a wagon, by train, or, at times, by hitchhiking.
No one was spared, not even all-time greats like Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In 2014, Grantland took a trip down memory lane, compiling anecdotes from former NBA players and Hall of Famers who experienced this challenging era of NBA travel. And based on their recollections, the league has indeed come a long way – and frankly, will never want to turn back.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"When you're 25 years old, you kind of go with the flow," Dolph Schayes told Grantland. "But that's the way it was. By today's standards, it's the Stone Age."
Charter flights were too expensive
NBA teams did not always hop on chartered planes when they went on the road. They settled for commercial flights, which were much cheaper.
Chartered flights are expensive for a reason. This saved players the headache of waiting in airport lines and allowed teams to leave the city after the game and prepare for the next, wherever it may be – all while doing so in comfort and luxury.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut back in the day, these types of flights were already too pricey for NBA teams, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, before teams' valuations and the league's popularity surged. This meant players had to make it to their games like they were part of the audience.
"You've got your two centers sitting wherever they seat them with their knees up over their heads. You look back and there's a crying baby and your point guard is sitting right next to him. That was the way it was back all through the '70s," Bill Fitch, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year in 1976 and 1980, said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"We went on trips that were for 19 days, 14 days. You have to remember that there were only two teams on the West Coast: Los Angeles and San Francisco. The next stop was St. Louis. And then you look up and flight canceled, flight delayed. And you're sitting in the airport tired as heck and making sure you have your suit bag and waiting for whatever happens, waiting on a plane and getting there three hours before game time or whatever," said Nate Thurmond, a member of the NBA 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.
Looking back, NBA legend Walt Frazier said he should not have taken such a luxury for granted when he was still with the wealthy New York Knicks.
"You got used to [waking up for early flights]. I didn't realize until I got to Cleveland how spoiled I was… A lot of teams weren't making enough money, so they couldn't do that," he said.
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Lack of direct flights to NBA cities
Aside from the high cost of private flights, there were only a few flights connecting NBA cities. As a result, teams needed to go on connecting flights on second-rate local airlines.
"We were going to Cincinnati and the window blew out and everything started going swish, swish and we put a piece of board up at the window to keep everything in. Obviously, we didn't like to travel on those small airlines. Those airlines with all the turbulence and whatnot kept us on edge," Earl Monroe said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis made back-to-back road games murder for everyone in the league.
"When they talk about back-to-backs now, it's a lot different than when you have to play a back-to-back and you have to catch the first available flight out the next day and go commercial and you don't have assigned seating and even if you do get first-class seats, there weren't enough to take care of your whole ball club," Fitch said.
In worst cases, players needed to travel by land, riding on city buses and sometimes hitchhiking, making for some fascinating memories. And when the weather was not on their side, they resorted to trains.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"One time, we were in Cincinnati. There was a major snowstorm and they woke us up before we even went to bed and said we had to go get on the train and get to Chicago and play a game that afternoon. We got on the train. We dressed on the train, stepped in [puddled] water after the rainfall with our uniforms on and played in the old place there," Jerry West said.
"The only way that you could get there was to take a train, but it stopped about 20 miles short of Fort Wayne. It stopped in the middle of a cornfield. Then you had to walk to the middle of this town and you had to stand in front of the Green Parrot Inn and thumb a ride from some high school kid and give him $10 to take you to Fort Wayne," Boston Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn said.
"There was no luxury, that's for sure. When I first came in they were renting cars and then sometimes the guys didn't show up with the car, people were late and then we started using, like, the city bus to go to the games. We had to clean our own road uniforms. It was very offensive. Sometimes I would forget and it would be like cardboard," Frazier recalled.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAl Attles recalled that he, Chamberlain and the Philadelphia Warriors once rode back home on a bus with the Syracuse Nationals in the 1960s. Usually, that would not have been a problem for Wilt. However, considering that his team had just lost to the Nationals a few hours before in the playoffs, sitting with them on the bus on the way home was not exactly ideal for the legend.
"Unfortunately for us, we lost the game. What he wants to do is sit in the last aisle. Swede Halbrook had that seat. He was 7-foot something. Wilt wanted that seat and they got on the bus before we did, so there was a little confrontation on the bus. Plus, we lost the game, so we weren't real thrilled about it anyways. Wilt said, 'When I get on the bus, that's my seat,'" Attles said.
The golden era of NBA travel
Whether they get a ride on buses, trains, planes – chartered or commercial – and rental cars, there is one thing the NBA players today and after the merger have to be thankful for: they never arrived at venues on a wagon.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"It's not bad enough that on the marquee of Madison Square Garden, it says Knicks versus Sheboygan. But at eight o'clock for an 8:30 game, up comes two station wagons. That's how the Sheboygan Red Skins got to New York and right in front of the Garden as everybody's coming in, these guys came out with their bags and played the game," Shayes recalled.
Although the reality of road trips has not changed when it comes to scheduling and harsh weather, the taxing, costly and once archaic travel methods that teams used to endure are now a thing of the past.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNow, the NBA is in a golden era of travel. The league is more popular and valuable than ever. Players have become more highly skilled and exciting. The last thing teams will want to think about is travel.
Teams, such as the Atlanta Hawks and the Los Angeles Lakers, have partnered with big airlines like Delta Air Lines. Interestingly, only a handful of teams own private jets, which include mostly big franchises such as the Lakers, Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. The rest now charter customized VIP Boeing 757s and Airbus A321neos, an upgrade from the Douglas DC-3 plane, the aircraft commonly used by teams in the past.
On short trips, players no longer need to travel by city bus, as teams already own private buses that accommodate them and address other logistical concerns. They certainly don't have to hitch a ride from random people.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAside from the wear and tear of road trips, today, all NBA players have to worry about is playing the game they love, a blessing that they should not take for granted.
Related: "I have no idea what a Stretch 3 is" - Jerry West blamed modern NBA coaches for complicating the game
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Nov 25, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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