Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday (Twitter video link), NBA commissioner Adam Silver was asked to describe the “wildest” rule change the league has considered. After briefly mentioning the idea of awarding two free throws for a foul on a three-point shot, Silver pivoted to another topic.
“Something else that I’m a fan of, and I’m probably in the minority, as we get more involved in global basketball: The NBA is the only league that plays 48 minutes,” Silver said. “I would be – I am – a fan of four 10-minute quarters. I’m not sure that many others are.
“Putting aside what it means for records and things like that, I think that a two-hour format for a game is more consistent with modern television habits. People in arenas aren’t asking us to shorten the game. But I think as a television program, being two hours — that’s Olympic basketball. College basketball, of course, is 40 minutes.”
Silver stressed that the idea of making “such a dramatic change” isn’t something the NBA is seriously considering at this point and would have to be “talked more about over time.”
However, he pointed to recent Major League Baseball rule updates, such as adding a pitch clock and changing the size of the bases, as examples of how a league rooted in tradition must be willing to consider tweaks for the sake of modernization.
“I’ve used (those MLB rule changes) in meetings at the NBA to say if baseball, which is more locked into tradition than any other sport — and I don’t mean that negatively; part of what baseball provides is the tradition, the legacy,” Silver said. “If they’re able to make those changes, certainly we shouldn’t be afraid to look at changes as well.”
After Silver and Patrick spent a couple minutes talking about other subjects, including Patrick’s ideas about the three-point line, the NBA commissioner circled back to the idea of 10-minute quarters.
“Because this game is so global, one of the things we’d like to see over time is creating a more consistent set of rules globally around the game,” Silver said. “… The U.S./Serbia, U.S./France (games at the 2024 Olympics), people who are basketball fans are saying those are two of the best games they ever saw.
“Incidentally, if you went to a 40-minute game, with the issues around load management and resting, it would be the equivalent of – I don’t know the exact math – taking 15 games off the season. And I don’t think most fans would be disappointed if it was a two-hour presentation.”
Silver’s remarks sparked plenty of debate on social media on Wednesday, with the conversation eventually reaching NBA locker rooms. As Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau were asked about the concept of 40-minute games ahead of their matchup on Wednesday night. Both coaches were firmly opposed to the idea.
“I hope we don’t go to 10-minute quarters,” Malone said. “I hope we don’t go to the four-point line. I hope we don’t become Barnum & Bailey where we’re just having to do whatever we have to do to keep viewership. Because there is a history and greatness to this game. And a purity to this game and I hope we can find a way to stay true to that.”
“I’m probably more traditional so I’d hate to see that,” Thibodeau added. “That’s just a personal (opinion). I haven’t really thought about it just because of the records and things of that nature. I think we have a great game. I think what people want to see is competition.”
the NBA is a joke
I keep trying to tell you guys. These rule changes ain’t coming from Adam Silver and the NBA. This is what ESPN and their “media partners” want to do. Silver just becomes the guy who sells the idea. This is why we were sold “positionless” basketball and got rid of the big man and the point guard. Make it look like a “video game” thinking kids would start watching. Wrong! Baseball is currently considering forcing starting pitchers to stay in the game for 6 innings (anything for more offense). In addition to allowing each team to have a “Golden At-Bat” where one-time during a game, they can substitute in any hitter they want. Bases loaded in the 9th inning. Yankees get to send Aaron Judge to the plate. Even if he just got done striking out.
Greed $$$$ is real people. We are getting a far worse product. Paying more in both $$$ and time (commercials). All the while being sold that the game has “never been better”.
It’s Al Eady the easiest sport to play with the biggest babies playing it. It’s boring as hell and takes 20 minutes to get through the final 2 minutes of the game. Why not make it 15 minutes for each quarter for a total of 60 minutes. A quarter is 15 minutes of 60 minutes. Not 12 or 10. This game has gone to hell with all the 3 points shots each game.
f you Silver
40 minute games is probably a change everyone wuld complain about and then forget about because it doesn’t actually change the flow of the game and most people dont watch the beginnings of games anyway.
And the load management argument is a good argument. Certainly 40 minute games is more feasible than removing 15 games from the schedule.
I am good with the way it is now but I also wouldn’t mind this change.
real basketball fans hate this stupid idea
Basketball exists outside of the NBA so that statement doesn’t even make sense. “Real basketball fans” have already been watching 40 minute basketball games for years, all over the globe.
As a “real basketball fan,” I am sure you already know that, though.
Why do “real basketball” fans hate it? I would argue real basketball fans have always enjoyed the 40 minute games in college
make it happen. ppl pay to see the stars play. rotations may only be 7-8 players this way!!!!!
This! The eight minutes we’d lose are the bench minutes!
this commissioner is not a real basketball fan he is just like the MLB commissioner
Old man yells at cloud.
He should be in favor of getting rid of about 4-6. Too many teams and not enough talent. The nba current product needs a lot of work
Buddy no way in a million years will any professional league deduct teams because of lack of talent.
Also, the NBA does have plenty of talent. I’m watching Jaden Springer finally getting minutes coming off the bench for the C’s and he has talent/potential to be a good rotational piece
Are the extra 2 minutes in each quarter a problem or the 6 timeouts allotted to each team. What about the substitutions that are run in just before the ball is put back in play or the replays at the end of games. Then there are the conga lines after each free throw attempt.
Take care of some of those things first. 5 timeouts per team. Any sub has to be at the scorers table at the time the whistle is blown. Exceptions for injuries and team timeouts. Limit replays to 45 seconds. And for us Bucks fans, eliminate Giannis’s free throw attempts. It’s a lot of buildup for so little reward. Just put one point on the board and play on.
The 48 minutes of action aren’t the problem. It’s all the extracurricular things that go on with it.
I understand the premise, but there are plenty of other ways to make the game shorter to accommodate our society’s shorter attention spans before reducing quarter time. My initial suggestions would be to: 1) retrain the referees to stop making ridiculous foul calls and 2) make replay reviews faster.
Properly codify the foul rules as well. Marginal contact should not result in a foul unless it’s to the face/genitals for example. I realize it’s a lot to track at top speed, but there are absolutely ways to tone down some of the more marginal/incidental calls.
crosstheory , you are right about the play stoppages arising from fouls. It’s the biggest problem AND should be the easiest to correct.
1. Put challenge reviews on a clock. If a challenge can’t be settled in, say, 90 seconds, it should automatically fail and play resume.
2. Flopping should be reviewed post-game and technicals assigned retroactively. The league already annuls technicals on post-game review, so assigning new ones should be easy. Like other techs, flops should lead to fines & suspensions.
3. Stop the “superstar call” for LeBron, Harden, Trae Young, Embiid, etc. It undermines the integrity of the game, and drives fans away in droves.
4. Put free-throws on a tighter clock. No delays from players milling around.
I would think Thibs would love a 40 minute game. He wouldn’t even need a bench, just give him the 5 best guys you can get and let them ball.
Thibs will still find a way to play his starters 48 minutes a night.
How about keeping it consistent with an appropriate 6 ft lane
Do not go to that stupid trapezoid nonsense
Everyone should shrink the lane, not widen it
They already added the dumb af semi circle which only made the game worse as well
…. and Embiid, Zion, Podcast P, Kawhi still wouldn’t play.
Exactly. If Silver is gonna make such a change, there has to be a justification for it. Clear data saying injuries will be reduced by a noteworthy margin, a change in load management, a change in the player participation policy. Skeptical any of these would be the case right now.
love it. i think it would be great for the game in many ways including helping w. load management — i would add to this by adding 12 min quarters for the finals only. another rule change i would make would be only top 4 seeds are guaranteed a playoff spot. 5-10 all for the play-in tournament. march madness style 1 & done.
both your ideas dont work at all
Wouldn’t affect games played for the load management crew 1 iota, can mark this one down and return to it
People sitting out 20+ games a year with bad knees aren’t going to become ironmen cause they’re playing 3-5 mins less per game. It’s a misunderstanding of what’s causing them to sit out in the first place
I have so much to say about this guy but it’s not even worth addressing anymore. I’ll just leave everyone with this take.
Every single one of his glorious ideas has failed miserably the last 5 years or so.
Every single one of them.
But hey he makes the owners and players happy so he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
have top 3 seeds make playoffs. 4-7 play single elim tourny to get 4th seed which equates to 6 game 7s in first round all meaningful. regular season matters more teams will be chasing the top 3 seeds or battling to get at least top 7 to have chance.
If this gets players injured less I’m all for it’s. Let’s take the opposite: 20m quarters and seeing your entire team okay at once….never. Or what would be more entertaining in the extremes, 5m quarters or 20m?
Stupid
NBA is 48 minutes
This is ridiculous. The real solution to their problem is shortening the season schedule to about 70 games. But they don’t want to lose that revenue.
The end of games is what needs to be cleaned up. Harder to address, sure, but a free throw war is the last thing people want to see. It’s not exciting and disrupts the flow of the game at what should be the climax. You can kill two birds with one stone here. Don’t ask me for specific solutions though lol.
At the first stoppage with less than 3 minutes remaining, turn off the clock and revert to pick-up rules: first team to however many points wins. Set the score needed to win at 7 more than whatever the team in the lead has. Example: game stops at 100-98, first team to 107 wins.
No clock (other than the shot clock), so no intentional fouling, no playing keep-away, no garbage time, no dribbling out the clock. Both teams are in it to the end; it’s possible to make up a 40 point deficit. And, every game ends in a walk-off.
Someone, anyone tell me why this is a bad idea.
They need to stick to a hard cap for a while then every team will have a superstar instead of the same 6 teams every year. This will keep basketball competitive. Also take that zone out let’s see some one on one ball this makes basketball exciting.
I wpuld be for it if it meant star players would take less days off, but reality is they would still take those “load management” days off. Everybody wants to get paid for not working.
STOP RUINING SPORTS FOR NO REASON
All this “purity of the game” is nonsense. Things change all the time. The game and league have changed. Change is just uncomfortable so people don’t like it. But trying to fight it is like trying to catch a fa rt with a butterfly net.
Basically, Silver doesn’t like anything about the NBA. No surprise.
ridiculous coaches. basketball needs to have the same rules globally like football (the real football) and 40 mins are more than enough
Yes. The officiating in the nba. The defensive three second rule and how soft the game is are the biggest issues. Everybody except Silver can see this. Go to Fiba rules, stop playing favourites. I watched SGA shoot like twenty 22 free throws yesterday in his fifty piece. A large majority of the contact was nothing short of absolutely laughable.
There are less free throws and fouls in this era as compared to the 80s and 90s.
The game isn’t “soft”.
There were more fouls and free throws in the 80s and 90s. Was it because the game was “soft”?
Your trolling is getting tiresome.
Silver is an utter moron.
His MLB pitch clock analogy is completely flawed. Now if he wants to increase pace within the game, then shortening the shot clock to 20 seconds would be the equivalent of the pitch clock in baseball.
Shortening quarters to 10 minutes would be the equivalent of only playing 7 innings for a MLB game.
What a buffoon.
I doubt it’s going to happen. I see many people opposing this.
NBA is 48 minutes.
This would effect the integrity of records as far as averages go, as thibs mentioned.
This has already happened in the NBL here in Australia and something about it just seems wrong. Makes the scores lower of course, the playing level the same…it’s the players and the fans missing out.. ridiculous