NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is willing to consider shortening the regular season and even the length of games, he said in a press conference on Friday. Silver’s comments were relayed by the Associated Press’ Brian Mahoney. “The format we have in place now — I’m a traditionalist on one hand, but on the other hand it’s 50 years old or so, presenting an 82-game season, and there’s nothing magical about it,” Silver said. He also tossed out the idea of reducing the length of games from 48 minutes to 40, the same as college and international games. Holding mid-season tournaments is something else he’s willing to consider. None of the potential changes are close to be implemented, Mahoney adds.
We have more from the basketball world:
- The Knicks choose Zion Williamson. The Cavaliers select Ja Morant. The Suns go for R.J. Barrett and the Bulls take Darius Garland. That’s how Jonathan Givony’s latest ESPN mock draft unfolds now that the draft tiebreakers have been settled.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo is the first choice when building a team from scratch. James Harden, by a narrow margin, is the MVP this season. Draymond Green and Russell Westbrook are the league’s most overrated players. These are some of the results in an anonymous players’ poll conducted by Sam Amick of The Athletic.
- Spurs guard Marco Belinelli will play for Italy in the FIBA World Cup this summer in China, according to a Sportando report. Belinelli played for the Italian national team in a FIBA World Cup in Japan 13 years ago. Belinelli averaged 10.5 PPG for San Antonio during the regular season.
- The teams that didn’t make the playoffs are eligible to make trades now but there are some major restrictions, as Bobby Marks of ESPN details (Twitter link).
If the Knicks get Zion, is it legal for him to pass and go back to Duke for another year?
He can pass. He just can’t return to college.
Pull a Kobe.
What is the point of mock drafts before the actual draft lottery? Well, truthfully there is very little point to mock drafts at any time, but they make even less sense when you don’t even know in what order teams will be selecting.
i dont think cav will draft another pg.they need scorer like rj or zion.susn need pg.and bulls wont take another player who have injuried record.their allready had to much injuried players this season.
media hype train suckered the sixers last year – all time classic
Wish this commissioner would stop threatening with all the changes in the game, there is a reason why the actual format is been around for 50 years, it works. As the saying goes if it ain’t broken why fix it! Leave things alone dude we like it as it is. It would be awful to reduce to 72 games, 40 minutes, mid-season tourneys… what a lot of trash ideas. You want a good idea, make All-playoffs teams & other awards like it.
Agreed, I don’t like all his chatter about changes. Mid-season tournaments sounds like an awful idea. With the amount of players who sit out I wouldn’t be against a shortened regular season. But I would start with reducing the season down to 80 games first and see if there’s noticeable change.
I could see the Cavs drafting Morant, even with Sexton on the roster. Sexton averaged less than three assists a game this year, but started putting up major points in the second half of the season. Collin may end up being better in a Lou Will role, which means Ja would still fit with him and the Cavs.
How is Westbrook overrated? Wtf
Agree… Sexton likes getting assists, he jumps up in the air when he makes the good pass. He’s just not a 10-man tracker, doesn’t run an offense very well. So Morant would be great. WC teams often play two not-big guards.
As for the LouW comparison, Sexton can come in & change the game, and was also oddly bad on D (I blame Lue, but that is correctable with a new coach).
Zion in Cleveland just seems right though. They lose Kyrie, gain Young Bull. They lose LeBron, gain Zion. Plus they got OBJ on the Browns with Baker. Not sure what they do with K-Love though. Maybe they can get Aaron Gordon and Mo Bamba from Magic. Seems like it would work capwise.
Zion’s not an outside threat yet so he will go with Love & Nance fine. They won’t trade Love unless he wants it. He spoke through Amick (IMO) to say he wants another star on the team so he will like it if a top 3 pick arrives, even if he has to play center like last year. It’s pretty fluid with him & Nance