One of the aspects few people talk about is this:

There are more bench players in the NBA than starters, and they all get a vote. It’s hard to believe a bench player, who wants more minutes, would vote to shorten the season.

Just spread the season out over an extra 10 to 15 days to eliminate back to backs. The rich still get paid, and the athletes get much needed rest.

Nobody taking those pay cuts and revenue losses lol, getting paid more than anyone before and simultaneously wants to play less games

Better just start managing your rotation better, Stephen A has a good point here somehow

warriors: spend 70% of their salary on 36+ year olds who are either washed or injury prone

also warriors: what do you mean we have to play 82 games???

Conveniently one game less than the Warriors 73 win record 🤔🤔

JUST GET RID OF PRESEASON

THAT’S IT

If preseason starts early October you just start the regular season early October

It is never going to happen no sports league that is controlled by a set of owners who want to make massive money will agree to anything that ever cuts revenue. That is why we will never have relegation (even though it is desperately needed), why the NFL keeps increasing games despite player injuries being up, and why every league is now in bed with gambling sites.

Quality of play only matters when it impacts bottom line. That is why tanking is concern but season length is not.

On one hand I like the thought that team depth and injury prevention will become even more important to team success; that said, I hate the how superstars are missing so many games and how you can’t buy a ticket and trust that your favorite player will play. That’s really bad for the game.

How about changing the rules to discourage the insane pace of play they go with these days? Besides tiring them all out it’s not even fun to watch. Watch a guy sprint up the court after the inbound, dribble at the perimeter for 4 seconds and then chuck a 3 (regardless if you’re open or not) and rinse and repeat. That’s a solid 70% of most games nowadays.

What about cutting the minutes from 12 per quarter to 10? You cut a lot of game mileage without reducing games.

I’ll say the same thing I did yesterday

Shortening the season 10 games will not reduce injuries or get players on the court

What’s wrecking these guys bodies is playing high level travel and AAU ball 24/7/365 from ages 10 to 18

I get his point, but the league would never give up that revenue.

It’s just a hard sell for all relevant parties.

Teams/owners obviously want as much money as possible. If the games were reduced TV deals would have to negotiated for less since there’s less games.

Similarly players don’t want to take less salaries which would be what happens if league revenue goes down. The players that care about their legacies also don’t want less games to impact their stat totals.

I also don’t think most fans really care that much. This feels like one of those things where the internet blows out of proportion but most people actually don’t care about.

season won’t get cut but they do need to get rid of back to backs, there’s no question about it. it just creates a worse product when imaginary illnesses come up depending on if a player is needed to win or not. or if the player does play and risk a season ending injury or one that cripples the team for half the season

lack of punishment for people that hunt stars is another problem though. NHL is the only other league that rewards intentional injuries and that’s only because it’s run by former dirty players

Nobody taking less money 

This won’t occur until the regular season gets so diluted people stop watching and going to games, and ticket revenue and broadcast rights go down instead of up.

Players aren’t taking pay cuts, the entire idea that they’d even consider it is crazy. Players coughing up literal millions just because the league wants to change the rules? Why would owners even agree to cutting 10 games off of their revenue? On what planet would owners want to pay athletes the same money and get paid less themselves?

It’s never happening. If anything, start the season a month earlier to limit the amount of back to backs in a season. Make the preseason like two weeks to help dudes get into game shape. Even if a shortened season is a better answer, it’ll never happen because of the economic aspect.

yeah, but, steve, did you consider this completely irrelevant point involving a completely different sport with completely different training and athletes?

checkmate

I would probably agree if my team was not as young as it used to be.

I think 82 is fine, but they can stretch the season out more

If there was no league pass and national games four or five days of the week, I don’t think the 82 game season would be seen as that big of a deal.

It’s been 82 games for over fifty seasons.

I agree with SAS in a vacuum but the reality is the NBA as a product is in a bad place. Tanking is out of control, ticket prices are crazy, you’re not guaranteed to see the best 2-3 players even play if you go, mid AF players can get $35m a year and not give any effort and the biggest issue, to me, is the rules and officiating has reached WTF levels of absurdity and inconsistency.

The NBA is making more money than it ever has and I’m having the least fun watching it than I have in 20+ years.

The day after Kobe’s record falls, Steve is just doing whatever it takes to protect the 73 win season

All players need to take a paycut too.

Here’s my plan:

32 teams , no divisions, 2 conferences

Play the 15 in your conference 3 times each, alternating the extra home each year

Play the 16 other teams 2 times each

77 games

Perfectly balanced schedule within conference

i said it in the other thread, and i’ll say it again: coaches need to lean on their benches more. you have 15 players for a reason

It’s because your team is OLD Steve

One thing not talked about because it’s been 4 years, is they had to finish the COVID season on a tight schedule. And then they started the next season the next month and had another tight schedule.

Steve Kerr is going to speak his mind. That’s what he’s done throughout his 12-season tenure as the Golden State Warriors’ head coach.

Unless he’s asked about Draymond Green assaulting someone.

It’s a shame that it’ll never get shorter because he is correct that it’d make for a better product. More availability during the season from the leagues best players and more total seasons from them as well.

Eh. The NBA could easily allow 10 games off for players who want it. This doesn’t have to be about shortening the season or losing money. It should be about the league being more flexible with players taking games off when they need to for rest/recovery.

Reminder. Players are grown men who make millions playing a children’s game. Stephen A Smith is a grown man who makes millions yelling about men who play a children’s game. Fuck Stephen A Smith 

It’s so his 73 game win record can never be broken 

Push back the season and get rid of the 5 games in 7 stretches

Steve Kerr is getting too old for this league.

This is short sided thinking the quality of the product will determine the long term value. Physical sales at arenas is 28% of revenue. How much more would the media rights and sponsorships be worth if we fixed the league? Imagine to same length of season with 60 games! You would have must see games every week on top of your teams games.

I legitimately don’t understand why the people who advocate for a shorter season don’t make the argument that, in the long term, they think the money would be *better*. Yes it will definitely be a short term reduction to revenue but more competitive games should be a boost to the popularity of the NBA so at least make that argument.

Steve Kerr crying about something who would’ve thought. He has quite of way of talking about other shit when the team he’s coaching isn’t doing well

The players are greedy. No way they take a pay cut.

They both got their points. If anything it should be the fault of players bitching about schedule and back to back while demanding more money every year. The players just wants to do less for more.