Opinions vary on the causes and potential solutions for the NBA's early-season injury crisis, and an idea commissioner Adam Silver once floated is back in the conversation. Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix said on the Open Floor podcast that he has heard that Silver likes the idea of shortening NBA games to 40 minutes. This is an idea that Silver has previously supported publicly.
"As we get more involved in global basketball, the NBA is the only league that plays 48 minutes. And I would be -- I am -- a fan of four 10-minute quarters," Silver said on The Dan Patrick Show in 2025. "I'm not sure that many others are.
Putting aside what it means for records and things like that, yeah, I think that a two-hour format for a game is more consistent with modern television habits." Silver is not the only major supporter of the idea. Mark Cuban has vouched for it as well, and given the sheer number of notable injuries the NBA has endured so far this season, the league is suddenly in a position in which it probably needs to consider pretty drastic changes to keep its best players on the floor. Is the idea of a 40-minute NBA game feasible?
What are the pros and cons here, and why do the negatives ultimately outweigh the positives? Some basic math: 82 48-minute games equals 3,936 minutes of regular-season basketball for every team, before overtime. Trim games to 40 minutes and teams instead play 3,280 regular-season minutes per year, or around 17% less total basketball.
Fewer minutes means fewer opportunities for players to get hurt. That much is essentially indisputable. Where things get more promising is in the theoretical, compounding effect of playing less.
If players are likelier to get hurt when they're overworked, reducing their workloads could potentially limit those more vulnerable minutes late in games and seasons because they simply aren't accumulating the same degree of wear and tear. Fresher players would hopefully be healthier players. College basketball games are 40 minutes.
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