NBA injuries are at an all-time high this season, with multiple NBA starters down within the first few weeks of play. As injury concerns grow league-wide, the conversation has shifted to how the league might better protect its athletes.
One solution seeing increasing support in the community is the idea of shortening the length of games from 48 minutes down to 40, essentially subtracting two minutes from each quarter. It may sound like an extreme measure, but the NBA Commissioner himself may not be opposed to it.
“What I’ve heard, Adam Silver likes the idea of 40-minute games,” Mannix said during a recent segment alongside NBA reporter Rachel Nichols. “He’s a globalist when it comes to basketball. I just don’t see financially how it’s feasible. Like I said, it’s not going to affect the minutes of stars. We’re just going to see bench guys get more and more marginalized to the point where teams are gonna be like, ‘we don’t need a 15-man rotation, we just need like 10 guys, we’ll keep a bunch of roster spots open.’”
NBA games have always been 48 minutes, broken up into four 12-minute quarters. To change it now would be no easy decision, especially because of the implications it’d have on NBA records and history, but drastic times call for drastic measures. Between the level of parity across the league and the reality of the modern schedule, players are struggling just to stay on the court, leading to the absence of stars like Jalen Williams, Anthony Edwards, Kawhi Leonard, and Ja Morant.
At this rate, fans are begging the NBA to step in and take action, but there’s only so much they can do. Without shortening the schedule or altering the rules around physical contact, the best thing would be to shorten the actual game itself, and it’s not a particularly new idea.
Several prominent NBA voices have advocated for 40-minute games, including basketball legend LeBron James. According to James, shortening the games would do more than prevent injuries; it would change the speed of the game by tightening the margin for error. It’s the same length as FIBA matches, which are known for having a heightened degree of intensity and competitiveness.
Besides the impact on NBA record-keeping, another potential issue with transitioning to 10-minute quarters is the financial implications. Shorter games mean fewer ad blocks, which means less earnings overall for the NBA and owners. It’s certainly a notable sacrifice, but having more stars available in shorter, more competitive games might make up for the loss of air time by attracting more viewers.
For now, it’s still unclear what the NBA plans to do (if anything) about the raging injury bug that’s decimating the league, but Adam Silver has always been proactive about addressing problems as they arise. In this case, when it comes to making a monumental structural change, it’s going to need a whole process before it gets incorporated, but it could be worth the effort it means getting stars healthier and improving the viewing experience for fans.