Inside the Traveling Act of the NBA G League: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

The Oklahoma City Blue have gone on a magical run to the NBA G League Finals through literal bumps in the road.

Stockton Kings Guard Mason Jones(15) drives the lane during a Western Conference Final Playoff game / Dan Rogers/Special to the Stockton

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is more than just an average 80s flick, it is a way to describe the rigorous travel schedule of the Oklahoma City Blue en route to the NBA G League Finals.

Between March 29 and April 10, the OKC Blue traveled nine of the 13 days with six games littered across March 30 and April 11 on their way to Game Two of the G League Finals against the Maine Celtics.

This topsy-turvy travel featured eight time zone changes with four road games. In seven days from April 4 and April 10, the Blue traveled an average of seven hours per day, stayed in eight different hotels, and made 22 bus trips to get to the airport to hop on a bird for a total of nearly 50 hours.

While they are professional basketball players this is anything but a life of luxury. Instead, the gripping reality of the lonely world chasing a dream that has to feel fleeting with each passing bus ride.

Squeezing on commercial flights and figuring out which 6-foot-plus adult man gets to indulge in the additional inch of legroom the aisle seat has to offer.

After playing a nearly three-hour basketball game, the traveling act packs up their mobile life and continues their journey as roving basketball roustabouts.

As the final buzzer sounds it is another bus ride from 11 pm to 2 am to get to the airport with the next available flight to their destination -- or at least close enough to it -- with travel that started as early as 6 am and concluded past 10 pm on three of the seven days that week.

To an extent, the Blue were a victim of their own success. Cruising through the single-elimination G League tournament as the scrappy three-seed that had a slow start to their season and do not want it to end.

From Oklahoma City to Wilmington, Delaware back to Oklahoma City to bus to Omaha, Nebraska to fly to Sioux Falls, North Dakota before bussing back to Omaha to fly to Sacramento, California to catch a bus to Stockton, California before driving down to San Fransisco, California and flying to Boston, Massachusetts to pile on one more bus to Portland, Maine for game one of the NBA G League Finals.

In that stretch, the Blue wrapped up their final regular season game, won three playoff games and began the G League Finals on the biggest stage the league has to offer.

Taking commercial planes and busses while staying in what is described as "certainly not five-star hotels" by a former two-way player is the price you pay willfully for the shot at your dreams.

However, consider this: In the biggest call back of their life with a breathtaking audition standing between them and preverbal Broadway, they are tasked with performing after 7.1 hours of travel per day totaling 2,961 minutes in a week.

"It was definitely tough," Blue guard Adam Flagler put it lightly as to not make excuses for whatever may happen in this series, but the team is trying to model after their NBA parent club.

"We are trying our best to resemble the Thunder, how they always joke about being an AAU team [In the NBA], we definitely want to take pride down there with the Blue and be just like them, tight-knit, that is what we have been doing in the travel...It allows us to joke and laugh and enjoy our time together," Flagler told Inside the Thunder.

With such a difficult travel schedule this becomes a labor of love where you are tasked with finding the bright spots. None brighter than something any AAU player can relate to...the pitstops.

Flagler's eyes lit up when talking about the Blue's detours to convince stores on the corner of small town, USA where he and his teammates galavant through the double doors and nearly transform into kids again.

"I love that, I love that. Really just the moments we have with the teammates joking, trying to figure out what we are going to get in the gas station are memorable moments," Flagler explained to Inside the Thunder before divulging he has to get a "Big ole SmartWater" each stop.

While the goal is to one day be drowning in a treasure trove of chartered airplane snacks and hotel mini-bars, for now, a SmartWater is enough to satisfy a former NCAA Champion in the journey to reach the mountaintop.

Flagler has the ability to look around the cramped commercial flight as the 6-foot-3 guard gets smushed into the middle seat perhaps snuck between 7-foot Olivier Sarr and 6-foot-11 Noah Starkey and see more than a few faces who have tasted the sweet nectar of the NBA's travel life and realize quickly the goal is within striking distance as the two-way guard has still yet to travel with the big club.

One of his five teammates with NBA experience, Lindy Waters III, has been part of every type of travel there is. As a semi-pro baller turned G Leaguer turned NBA standard contract player, there is no one better to examine the differences between the two travel plans than the Oklahoma State product.

"It is commercial, you don't get the luxury of pulling through the gate and hoping right on the plane. You have to go through the security checks, sometimes there were delays, rerouting and connecting flights it is a bit different," Waters III explained to Inside the Thunder.

There is no doubt that it is taxing on the body, but Waters III is a living breathing example of a G League success story. What started as a heartwarming fairy tell with this former Enid Outlaw trying out for his local G League team turned into this notable novel of a 26-year-old who has inked four NBA deals.

"It trains you mentally, toughens you for whatever the case may be up," Waters III said, scoring one for the G League's development which prepared the swingman to handle the Thunder's traveling snafu that saw them not land in Atlanta until 7 AM on the second night of a back-to-back before tipping off at 7 PM that night against the Hawks.

Waters III, and every other G League alum, has endured a much tougher travel tour than being stuck on a chartered flight a tad too long.

As the Oklahoma City Blue attempt to stave off elimination on Thursday in the Paycom Center, it is important to remember the long and windy road it took for them to get here.

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