Just over half of the NBA season has passed, and Commissioner Adam Silver’s search for ways to improve the league appears in full swing.
This week, Silver floated a drastic rule change for the length of quarters during NBA games.
The NBA plays 12-minute quarters. If the NBA were to adopt a Silver proposal, those periods would be reduced by two minutes. Ten-minute quarters would take eight minutes off the game clock.
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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks at a press conference before a game between Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Dec. 9, 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Silver noted that the reduction could create a more “consistent” presentation for basketball fans who watch games on TV.
“I am a fan of four, 10-minute quarters,” Silver told “The Dan Patrick Show” when asked about the more drastic ideas the NBA has considered.
“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 … as a television program, Olympic basketball is two hours. College basketball is 40 minutes.”
At one point, Silver cited the length of games played in other leagues around the world.
“The NBA is the only (basketball) league that plays 48 minutes. … It’s such a dramatic change to the game. … Something like that would have to be talked more about over time.”
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During the Summer Olympics, basketball games last 40 minutes. College basketball games in the U.S. are divided into 20-minute halves.
“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.
A basketball next to an NBA logo during a break in the first half of a game in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Silver noted that shaving two minutes off quarters could reduce the wear and tear on players over a 82-game season, while potentially helping the league combat its “load management” issue.
“Incidentally, if you went to a 40-minute game — with the issues around load management and resting — it would be the equivalent of … taking like 15 games off the season,” Silver said.
Silver made it clear the ideas he mentioned during the exchange with Patrick had merely been discussed, but they are nowhere near being adopted.
“It’s not quite at that level,” he said.
The NBA logo on a backboard before a game between the Houston Rockets and the Miami Heat at Toyota Center in Houston April 5, 2024. (Troy Taormina/USA Today Sports)
Silver also praised Major League Baseball for adding a pitch clock. He argued the change helped “speed up the game,” while also keeping traditional aspects of the game in place.
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“I’m a baseball fan, and I think some of those changes have really increased sort of the engagement … the entertainment value of the game, and so I’m paying a lot of attention to that,” Silver said.
“And, in fact, I’ve used the pitch clock … in meetings at the NBA to say … we shouldn’t be afraid to look at changes.”
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