NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Reuters via Imagn Images

Commissioner Adam Silver floats a significant NBA rule change

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated Jan 29, 2025 4:49 PM ET

NBA commissioner Adam Silver floated a fairly radical potential rule change that he would like to see happen.

In an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” Wednesday, Silver suggested that shortening quarters from 12 minutes to 10 could be good for the NBA and bring it more in line with the game in the rest of the world, though he conceded the idea might not be a popular one.

“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,” Silver said. “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 to modern television habits. People in arenas aren’t asking us to shorten the game, but I think as a television program, being two hours — Olympic basketball is two hours. College basketball is two hours.”

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 is correct that this change would take a lot of effort. It would not shorten games by that much, but perhaps eight fewer minutes per game could make a slight difference in terms of keeping players healthy and reducing the amount of rest they need. As Silver noted, the college game is 40 minutes, as are most global leagues.

This chatter comes with NBA ratings down this year and many trying to figure out what is behind that. Some players would argue that there are much bigger reasons than length of the game for any reduced fan interest.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: