Adam Silver Reportedly Wants to Reduce NBA Games from 48 to 40 Minutes

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has told associates he supports shortening league games from 48 minutes to 40, according to a report that revives a rules debate the commissioner first floated in January, Eurosport reported.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated said on a podcast with Rachel Nichols that, from what he had heard, Silver “likes the idea of 40-minute games” and considers the commissioner “a visionary when it comes to basketball.” The report comes as the league weighs how to curb a wave of injuries at the start of the season while aligning its product with the rest of the world’s basketball.

Four 10-Minute Quarters

Silver first signaled his preference publicly in January 2025, telling The Dan Patrick Show: “I’m a fan of four 10-minute quarters.” The NBA is the only major league that plays four 12-minute quarters; FIBA competitions — the Olympic Games, the World Cup, EuroLeague and national championships worldwide — all use 40-minute games with 10-minute quarters.

“Insofar as basketball has a global reach, one of the things we would like to see in the future is harmonization of the rules,” Silver said last year, according to the report.

The commissioner has also framed the change as a business decision. With advertising revenue off the table, a shorter game would deliver what Silver called “a two-hour format” that he said is “more in line with modern television habits,” particularly among younger viewers.

Why Now: Injuries, Harmonization, Viewing Habits

Three arguments drive the idea, according to Mannix’s reporting. The first is player health: with injuries mounting early in the season, a shorter game could reduce wear on star players. The second is global alignment with FIBA’s 40-minute standard. The third is consumption — an eight-minute cut would tighten the broadcast window without touching ad inventory.

But the proposal faces steep resistance. Nothing guarantees shorter games would actually reduce injuries when the regular season still runs 82 games plus the playoffs. Mannix argued the change would squeeze bench players rather than protect stars, saying teams might conclude “we don’t need a 15-man rotation” and leave roster spots open.

Bench Players Would Feel the Squeeze

Cam Johnson of the Portland Trail Blazers made the same case to The Athletic: starters would keep playing 30 to 35 minutes while substitutes dropped to five or ten, fundamentally changing how rosters are built.

The league’s records would also be upended. Cutting eight minutes would change every standard and comparison, making the NBA’s cherished statistical records harder to reach and harder for fans to interpret.

Players Mostly Say No — With One Big Exception

Players have rejected the idea overwhelmingly. Of 153 NBA players surveyed by The Athletic in 2025, 78.1% answered “no.”

Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks values what sets the NBA apart. “When I was a kid in France, I always admired the NBA for its great players and great franchises, but also for its rules,” he said. “I think changing this rule would be going too far.”

Toumani Camara of the Portland Trail Blazers said the final minutes are the hardest part of the game. “I feel like the extra minutes at the end of the game are probably the most difficult part,” he said. “You can see the mistakes and the mental fatigue.”

Yet not everyone is closed to it. LeBron James said on the “Mind the Game” podcast he co-hosts with Steve Nash that 40-minute games are “intriguing.” International games, he noted, move so fast that “there’s no letup,” giving them “a certain sense of urgency” — something the league could discuss, though he acknowledged it would change the sport’s history and its statistics.

What Remains Unresolved

No formal proposal has been put to the NBA’s Board of Governors or the players’ union, and the report of Silver’s preference remains unconfirmed by the league. The debate over game length is likely to continue as the season progresses and the injury toll is weighed against the tradition of the 48-minute game.

More on this story: Adam Silver considers 40-minute NBA games amid injury wave