In one embodiment, a neighbor access point list is obtained. Statistics are maintained for a current access point that a client is currently associated with, including previous access points previous clients have roamed from prior to associating with the current access point, and next access points the previous clients associated with. The neighbor access point list for the client is optimized, by determining one or more previous clients that associated with a same previous access point as the client and prioritizing access points in the optimized neighbor access point list, based on the next access points the one or more previous clients associated with. The optimized neighbor access point list is sent to the client.