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[Saba Sports News] Adam Silver acknowledges that reducing game length would require significant effort and may not drastically shorten overall playtime.
However, cutting quarters from 12 to 10 minutes—trimming eight minutes per game—could have a small impact on player health and recovery. As Silver pointed out, most international leagues and college basketball already operate with 40-minute games.
This discussion comes at a time when NBA ratings are down, sparking debate about the root causes of declining fan engagement. Some players argue that game length isn’t the real issue.
Earlier this week, the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver floated the idea of shortening games, aligning the league more closely with international formats. He admitted the idea might not be widely embraced but sees potential benefits.
“Something else that I’m a fan of, and I’m probably in the minority,” Silver said, “as we get more involved in global basketball, the NBA is the only league that plays 48 minutes. 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 to modern television habits. People in arenas aren’t asking us to shorten the game, but I think as a television program, being two hours — Olympic basketball is two hours. College basketball is two hours.”