Video: Adam Silver Says He’d Be a ‘Fan’ of 10-Minute Quarters, 40-Minute NBA Games
NBA commissioner Adam Silver is a proponent of potentially shortening NBA games to 40 minutes from the current format of 48 minutes.
“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. I am a fan of four 10-minute quarters,” he said during Wednesday’s The Dan Patrick Show. “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 games, but I think as a television program, Olympic basketball is two hours, college basketball is of course 40 minutes.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver floats the idea of changing the game from 12 to 10 minute quarters #NBA pic.twitter.com/ymajYHTgi4
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) January 29, 2025
Silver did acknowledge that it would be a “dramatic change” and would need to be discussed over time.
But the NBA has not been adverse to change, most notably adding the Play-In Tournament and the in-season Emirates NBA Cup, among others. Those were additions to the current season format, however, not alterations to an existing feature.
One huge benefit of shortening the games by eight minutes—alongside a more compact television product—could be player safety. Such a reduction in game time would reduce the NBA season by 656 minutes, the equivalent of 13.6 NBA games in the current format, which Silver noted.
Such a change could be an excellent compromise for both the people who believe the NBA season is too long and should be shortened, and the team governors who don’t want to sacrifice a portion of their current game revenue.
Player injuries and load management remain an issue for the NBA, even as the NBA takes measures to combat their star players from missing time. While some players may be traditionalists and prefer the current length of games, more injury-prone players may see the benefit of shortening the contest and reducing the wear-and-tear on their bodies.
Silver also noted that he hopes to see a more “uniform set of rules” across the NBA and other global leagues going forward. The 40-minute format would fit into that desired outcome as well.
