Adam Silver Entertaining The Possibility Of Shortening NBA Games To 40 Minutes Is His Latest Dumb Idea That Won't Change A Damn Thing
A few weeks ago, we were staring at what was shaping up to be one of the most exciting NBA seasons in recent memory. Things were as wide open as ever, all the player movement over the summer gave us new supposed contenders, young guys preparing to take a leap, everything was set up for a tremendous NBA season.
Then before you could even blink, everyone started getting hurt. Key role players, stars, superstars, everyone. And not just a rolled ankle here or there. I'm talking serious injuries that have some of the best players sidelined for the foreseeable future. It sucks. I don't care who your favorite team may be, as basketball fans we all lose when it comes to this stuff. The product and league is better when the best of the best are actually able to play basketball games. To have that taken away from us by the Basketball Gods in the opening weeks of the season? Kind of fucked up if you ask me.
As a result, everyone is trying to figure out what's happening and come up with a solution. The latest idea? Potentially changing NBA games to 40 minutes. How real of a possibility could that be? Apparently Adam Silver likes the idea
which is very on brand for Adam Silver. He loves coming up with ideas to fix things that don't actually fix anything. Remember his new Lottery reform? After getting so bent out of shape because teams followed the current system in a generational Draft, Silver decided to come up with a new Lottery system to end tanking......which in no way shape or form ends tanking. His new plan to solve tanking is still a system where there are still incentives for teams to lose on some level. As such, teams will lose on purpose because it still potentially helps them and their future! So basically....the same shit we're seeing before this new idea. Good job Adam!
So naturally, I have no doubt that Silver would entertain making games 40 minutes thinking that will solve everything. In reality, it's most likely not going to change shit and just mess with history/records etc.
Just think this through. Players don't have a ton of miles yet. The season just started! So how do you explain all these healthy players getting hurt within the first week of the season? It's not like their bodies are already broken down from playing 40 different 48 minute games or something. This is also why I push back when people talk about the number of games in a season. Taking away games won't solve anything either! Guys are getting hurt at the START of the year!
And let's be honest, what is this really going to change? Is the idea here that a star player would play fewer minutes in a 40 minute game compared to 48? No chance. You're still going to see them play their 30-35ish minutes a night. Who suffers? The depth. The role players. Now you're also opening up an entire can of worms in terms of contracts and earning power while still not doing anything to limit injuries.
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It's not exactly a new take or even a hot take, but the issue really isn't how long games are. It's the overall schedule. The travel, the back to backs, the 3 in 4 nights, shit like that. If none of that stuff changes, it won't matter one bit if games are 48 minutes or 40 minutes. So why is that the focus and not the actual schedule? Look, there are people smarter than me who can figure out how to make that work, but I imagine there's a way. There are also some players like LeBron who think their pace has something to do with this issue which I can understand
but also, the pace was even faster back in the day compared to now. If you look at the NBA in the 1970-80s, they played at a MUCH faster pace for essentially that entire decade compared to the pace of play now. These last few years, the NBA has averaged a pace (number of possessions per 48 minutes) of around 99 since the 2020-21 season. In the 70s and 80s? They were around 103-105 possessions. Considerably faster-paced!
I do think LeBron may be onto something when it comes to the training and preseason and getting guys ready for the regular season. That definitely feels more real. Things are shorter, guys are rested in the preseason and then thrown into action, so that part I buy.
My question is, why is the NBA skipping over adjusting the schedule, removing B2Bs etc before going with ideas that won't improve anything and essentially nuke all historical records? How does that make his product better? Say they do this and the health issue is still a problem. Then what? Do you just say "Whoops! Our bad!"? How do you explain that to a role player who got squeezed out because now the starters are playing 30+ of the 40 minutes? Do you cut him a check or something? I promise you don't have to overthink this. There are plenty of things to try before you go messing with things that forever change the history of your sport that most likely will have you in the same situation you are in now.
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I'm willing to give Silver credit when his ideas actually pan out. I like the Play In and the NBA Cup. Good job. But this? I'm going to have to ask you to please be serious. You have a serious issue on your hands where the best players in your league are dropping like flies every single night. Maybe take finding a solution a little more seriously than whatever the hell this idea is.