NEW YORK — NBA commissioner Adam Silver likes the idea of cutting games from 48 minutes to 40, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Mannix said it on SI’s Open Floor podcast with co-host Rachel Nichols, in a clip that circulated Tuesday, and attributed it to what he had heard around the league.
The subject came up while the two discussed star absences. Two weeks into the 2026-27 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves are both playing without All-NBA players.
Mannix sees a shorter game coming out of the end of the bench rather than the top of the rotation. In his telling, teams would get down to 10-man groups and leave roster spots open.
“I actually think Adam Silver, from what I’ve heard, like he likes the idea of 40-minute games,” Mannix said. “I mean, Adam’s a globalist when it comes to basketball, but I just don’t see financially how it’s feasible. And I also think, like I said, it’s not going to affect the minutes of stars.”
“You’re just going to see bench guys get more and more marginalized to the point where teams can be like, ‘We don’t need a 15-man rotation. We just need like 10 guys,’” Mannix continued. “We’ll keep a bunch of roster spots open or whatever. I don’t think that’s reasonable. Again, cutting, reduced number of games is not reasonable either.”
Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves Lose Stars To Early-Season Injuries
Oklahoma City lost two starters in one night. During the Thunder’s Oct. 25 win over the LA Clippers, Jalen Williams fractured his left fibula and dislocated his ankle, and Cason Wallace tore the labrum in his left shoulder. Williams had surgery Oct. 28 and Wallace had surgery Oct. 30. The Thunder announced that both will be reevaluated before the regular season ends.
That same release covered Chet Holmgren. He underwent a biological treatment Oct. 30 for a small patellar tendon tear in his right knee, with a return expected in eight to 10 weeks. Holmgren made third-team All-NBA and first-team All-Defense last season, when he averaged 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 69 games.
Williams was a 2025 All-Star and a third-team All-NBA selection that same season. He played 33 games last season and three this season before the injury.
In Minnesota, Anthony Edwards is out for up to two months after arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Edwards appeared in 61 games last season, with knee issues behind most of the time he missed. Over his first five NBA seasons, he missed 19 of a possible 400 games.
The Dallas Mavericks listed Kyrie Irving as doubtful for Monday’s game against the Sacramento Kings with left knee management. Irving missed all of last season after tearing his ACL.
Neither shorter games nor a shorter schedule is Mannix’s answer. His last point before the show signed off was about the timing of whatever the NBA does next.
“We’ll see. But I think something, I think something has to be done,” Mannix explained. “Like this is, this is bad. And I think you’d rather be proactive than reactive, and you get all these problems that are happening right now.”
“It definitely hurts the game because when you, people are paying tickets to watch stars,” Mannix added. “It’s the most star-driven league of the four major sports. And not seeing stars is a big problem for the NBA.”
Adam Silver Floated 10-Minute Quarters On The Dan Patrick Show In 2025
Silver made his own case for the change on Jan. 29, 2025, during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show. Asked about the wildest rule change the league had considered, he first mentioned awarding two free throws on fouled three-point attempts, then turned to the length of the game.
A two-hour broadcast was the part Silver kept coming back to, along with college and Olympic basketball running 40 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,” Silver said. “I would be, I am, a fan of four 10-minute quarters. 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,” Silver continued. “People in arenas aren’t asking us to shorten the game. But I think as a television program, being two hours, that’s Olympic basketball. College basketball, of course, is 40 minutes.”
Silver said then that a change that large was not something the league was seriously considering and would have to be talked about more over time. A few minutes later in the same interview, he cited the 2024 Olympic games between the U.S. and Serbia and the U.S. and France, and he tied the shorter format to load management.
“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 explained. “Incidentally, if you went to a 40-minute game, with the issues around load management and resting, it would be the equivalent of, I don’t know the exact math, taking 15 games off the season. And I don’t think most fans would be disappointed if it was a two-hour presentation.”
Across an 82-game schedule, the change would remove 656 minutes of regulation play per team.
Two coaches heard about the idea before their teams played that same night. Then-Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone put 10-minute quarters in the same group as a four-point line.
“I hope we don’t go to 10-minute quarters,” Malone said. “I hope we don’t go to the four-point line. I hope we don’t become Barnum & Bailey where we’re just having to do whatever we have to do to keep viewership. Because there is a history and greatness to this game. And a purity to this game and I hope we can find a way to stay true to that.”
Then-New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau had not given the idea much thought, and the record book was the first thing he raised.
“I’m probably more traditional so I’d hate to see that,” Thibodeau said. “That’s just a personal opinion. I haven’t really thought about it just because of the records and things of that nature. I think we have a great game. I think what people want to see is competition.”
The NBA’s rules still set regulation at four 12-minute quarters.
