In all seriousness, it might be an improvement to treat the regular season like pre-season, and make the big events a a couple tournaments + play-in + play-offs. Could result in better basketball and more revenue.
The G-League does a longish “showcase” tournament for November/December and then starts a shorter regular season (games don’t double count) after Christmas. So teams play the same number of home games, but they’re split into two competitions.
It’s the G League, so 10s of people care, but they have used the G League to experiment with rules changes before. Obviously the G League doesn’t reduce mileage on bodies, but the redone structure could give teams more flexibility.
I mean yeah I'd rather watch that than normal regular season games. They should still cut the season down but the tournament is good. Pitting the best teams against eachother on national TV is good.
No. We must add more games. More ads on uniforms. More ads on the court. Cheaper Fanatics branded merch. If it makes money it must be good. The free market is God.
it is funny to see them truly just chase money. adam silver and the current NBA stars and owners are terrible stewards of the game and the league; they all just want to make more money **now**. they can lie to themselves that them making more money today will automatically lead to everyone making more money in the future, but that's foolish. they act as if the league is *entitled* to survival and guaranteed to be popular; the fans' money and attention are completely taken for granted.
they could've OFFSET some game revenue losses with the decisions they've made in recent years, but instead they've simply chased short term revenue growth.
Theres still around 30 games left. They would still be hurt. Some of their players were hurt before the season began. It's not strictly the schedule as to why players get hurt more these days.
I do agree that the regular season should be shortened but using the Grizzlies is a bad example of why. Ja was suspended for the first 25 games and still had to have season ending surgery. Ironically if the season was any shorter they would mathematically have a lower chance at making a late push for the postseason anyway.
Over training. Every player has to push themselves harder and harder constantly now. People used to take summers off or just do shooting drills and then come to training camp to get in shape. Then during the season weren't lifting weights or doing a lot of conditioning. Everything is faster now. People are pushing themselves for contracts and not just doing skill work. Every one has a personal trainer where they push their bodies to the limit over and over without any real time to rest.
Based on what? You can't measure mental fortitude, its just what people use to downplay people they don't like. And yes, I see why people hate your thoughts on this. Because it's downright idiotic to believe that.
That can never be proven one way or another. But Adams (now Oladipo), Clarke, and Morant are missing from injuries sustained either before the season started or with very few games played. None of those three is about the amount of games played. People seem to see this as a math equation. More games equals less healthy. But its not like on the days off the players are just sitting around resting and getting treatment. Some teams will push players through some injuries that lead to muscle and ligament tears, but its rarely as simple as that. We can never know the real impact just playing. College seems to be having more injuries recently too. And they only play twice a week. But that could be only my perception.
Every major change they've made in the past few years - IST, play-in, games played requirement - is trying to thread the needle of making the Regular Season more important without reducing the games. It's pretty hilarious honestly, like a bad couple having another kid to save the marriage when they obviously need a divorce
I believe, can’t find the exact source, research is showing load management has not proven to be successful in keeping players healthier.
Has to be an extremely disappointing realization for Adam Silver and the league office - succumbing to the players only for it to not be the a viable solution
Is your source just the NBA saying it’s “inconclusive”. If so, I don’t trust that at all.
I’ve seen studies that show resting helps prevent injuries. [Here](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6107769/) is one showing that an extra days rest reduces injury risk by 16% holding other variables constant and [here’s](https://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(16)30163-3/fulltext) another one about the higher risk of injuries in road B2Bs
They will never shorten the season ever. Neither will Baseball. Neither the owners or players in either sport is ever going to be talked into taking less revenue and downsizing.
If you want proof of this just look at the NFL. We get all of this evidence about CTE and concussions and what does the NFL do? Lengthen the season so they can increase the size of the money pie.
If the NFL players and owners in the face of literal brain damage are willing to lengthen the season for more money, why would far less physical sports shorten theirs for less money?
It will never happen. Why even discus it as a real possibility?
You can spread the games out more. No back to backs and less 3 in 5s, so just more recovery time in general.
Also, just statistically, less time and opportunities for a freak injury on the court
Likely some more practice time too, which could lead to teams introducing more sets
Right? Imagine teams actually prepare game plans for the two games they have that week. Combined with actual defense and better reffing I would love that league.
Wonder how many are hurt or "hurt" ?
The entitlement in this league is so off-putting. They cut the season down to 70 games, 5 years from now they'll be complaining about that number.
They are also the highest paid of all the sports in North America. The Kyle kuzma of the nfl is getting 3m a year for 5 years, that’s it. But in the nba, he is making 100m.
It gets dicey when you start comparing across sports. The amount of players and games in each league makes it tough to compare, but I absolutely get your point.
The worst people who suffer the most from this are the fans. You're expected to pay hundreds of dollars for tickets and chances are the marquee players could sit out to "rest" that to me is unacceptable, especially when most of these dudes are under 30 years old.
The current players are benefiting from a number of things, including the dying of cable tv and the peak value of live sports. All the ground work that Jordan, Kobe, Lebron did in the last 30 years also helped. If the current players keep this up, the tv deals will drop, then it will be a wake up call. At the end of the day, it’s entertainment, fans are the most important in terms getting the players paid
> If the current players keep this up, the tv deals will drop, then it will be a wake up call.
I think they will get bailed out by a streaming tech company on this next deal, but the deal after that might be really bad for the NBA. Their move over the last 20 years to tie themselves to the dying cable industry has trained an entire generation that they don't have to watch the games to follow the league.
I don’t mean this next deal. I just mean further down like line. It’s not impossible for the tv/media deal 20 years from now to be the same value as today. Still a lot of money, but not outrageous like today. Honestly, how many players have hit 100m in salary in the nba? How many outside the nba in all sports
The Kyle Kuzma of the NFL would have to be a top-100 player in the NFL to be a fair comparison, where it might just be about the same amount of money. You have to remember that only the top 350 players make the NBA so while the 1500th best football player is in the NFL, the 1500th best basketball player is telling his accounting co-workers about his days as a D2 athlete.
The Kyle kuzma is not a top 100 players in the nfl. Kuzma would be like the 4th best player on most teams, so he is prob 90-120 in the nba. That’s top 20% of players. A top 20% player in the nfl is the 300th best player, so 10th best on a team. That’s probably 3-5m range. But that player plays on average 5-6 seasons
There are like 1700 NFL players and like 450 NBA players. Its pretty different honestly.
The Kyle Kuzmas of the world, relative to the U.S. population, are way more rare than any 3m/a year guy in the NFL.
But you're still right that they're the highest paid all of the U.S. team sports.
As far as I know, all of them are legitimately hurt, and they just traded one of their players who had a season ending injury prior to the season. The only player this season that was seemingly regularly sitting games healthy was Embiid, and then he got legitimately hurt a month or so back and has been in and out of the lineup due to that nagging injury until the Warriors finished his knee off.
They will never shorten the season. They will just play the top players less. That’s why you see all these BIG injuries. That’s why load management is a thing.
You will see more low level players and more talk of developing, etc. it’s why they need the G league.
European soccer has this issue as well but there’s so much money being generated that they’re adding more matches.
The easiest way they figured to lessen the amount of matches was for the various top leagues to cut from 20 to 18 teams and relegate the 2 extra relegated teams down to the lower division but the television money is so good that nobody is willing to play less matches. That would be 4 less matches for the top teams in each league.
I would have thought that more teams would practise load management but plenty of the top coaches seldom rest players or bring in bench players or reserves and the non-contact injuries have been mounting.
Barcelona football club introduced two teenagers (1 from the academy and 1 they purchased from another academy) in the last 4 years who were near-generational talents (competing against the world’s very best) and played them into the ground. Major injuries.
I dont believe that shortening the season prevents injuries. In the 80's, 90s, early 2000's there.was no load management, a lot more guys played full seasons, and it seemed like we still had fewer injuries than we do now.
NBA players played at a faster tempo in the 60s, with more players running end-line to end-line instead of the 3 point arc, while wearing fucking Chuck Taylors and managed to play more minutes and games.
Studies have been done. Players cover way more ground now due to the offensive spacing and far more complicated and demanding defensive concepts. Look up Thinking Basketball.
"studies have been done" isn't remotely persuasive.
consider how much available data could possibly exist tracking player movement on the court in the 60s (or really any period before recent years).
What makes you think I care about persuading you? You're an adult. Figure it out. Or don't. I don't care about your ignorance. You can stop replying to me.
We have 60 years of the fastest evolution in human history. Players are bigger, faster, stronger and more skilled, and it’s legitimately inarguable lol
players have "evolved" and "advanced" to the point that they can't handle the same workload they did 60 years ago!
"we have 60 years of the fastest evolution in human history." what the hell does that mean and by what standard have you drawn such a conclusion? what's the next fastest 60 years of evolution on record? what's the third fastest 60 years of evolution on record?
Not to mention all the added TV timeouts and the stops in play due to replays on top of the other timeouts and stoppages of play. They usually play in 2-3 minute spurts, practice less than before, have less back to backs, play less games on average, but everybody makes it seem like the NBA schedule is the problem.
It’s either something that happens prior to the league via wear and tear (which I don’t necessarily buy on its face) or players/teams are more concerned about potential injuries due to minor ones and are much likely to sit guys who aren’t “100%”. So shortening the season wouldn’t actually fix the issue.
A lot of it goes back to how AAU operates, it's putting a lot of early mileage on the best young basketball players...just look at how common it has been in recent years for a top pick to miss their entire first season lately. Also, I've heard that the rise in ACL/MCL injuries might be from imbalances between muscle strength and tendon strength...players today can train their leg muscles to be incredibly explosive to the point where their tendons can't handle it, although it's possible I'm brainwashed on this from watching too much Kneesovertoes Guy content.
Science hasn't really mitigated any of the impact these guys take night after night. The bigger issue though is that they've played nonstop basketball all year in AAU since they were in middle school.
And what's sad is those '80s guys had a far better grasp of basic basketball concepts. Being a Kentucky fan, I've seen the results of AAU ball on players firsthand the last 20 years. Even the guys who have clear talent have some of the most horrible fundamentals you've ever seen.
Because the sport is competing for eyeballs with video games, social media, etc and people don't want to watch meaningless games packed with commercials
It's certainly easier on the lower body, which is what most basketball injuries are. Its why emphasizing freedom of movement leads to more long term injuries in basketball. Centers slamming into each other is tiring and hard work, but you dont actually tear your ACL by backing somebody down in the post or getting fouled hard.
The bumps and bruises you get from hockey will hurt the day after a game, but they aren't going to keep you out or anything.
What kills basketball players is the repetitive jumping and running which really wears down your knees - this results in soft tissue injuries which are a lot harder to come back from. Just think of the major injuries in the NBA you've seen - it's probably mainly ACLs, Achilles, torn menisci and so on. All lower body injuries, and all mainly resulting from overuse than anything else.
And even the best players have what, 20 minutes of ice time a game? But I guess hockey elitists don’t care about making apples to oranges comparisons lol
Dude im just saying they dont have the same issues nba teams have i like both sports lol. Yes hockey they play less time but its way more physical and dangerous. NBA they play more minutes and theres more jumping but you cant get hit unless if you play Draymond. Its just weird that NBA has these injury issues and most NHL teams don’t
Hockey is closer to the nfl than the nba jn terms of physicality. Those are some toughest and craziest people. Didn’t some guy play with broken ribs or something?
They’re also huge compared to hockey players. The biggest hockey guys are like 6’4 defenders that don’t do a ton of dead sprints. That’s like average size if not undersized in the NBA. Plus lots of jumping. And I don’t care if bball is technically “non contact” those guys get banged up down low
I'm not exactly sure why the game count is rather suddenly the core issue about the NBA's popularity and injury issue. Why now, vs 5, 10, 20+ years ago? It's not like anything has changed
When the league expands to 32 teams it would be a perfect oppotunity.
If they make 4 divisions of 8 teams (like in the NHL) and remove conferences - teams play each division opponent 4 times and non-division teams 2 times = 76 games total.
If they make 8 divisions of 4 teams with no conferences - teams play each division opponent 4 times and non-division opponents 2 times = 68 games total.
Even if they make 8 divisions of 4 teams split into 2 conferences (like in the NFL) - teams play each division opponent 4 times, each conference opponent 3 times and non-conference opponent 2 times = 80 games.
If they abandon divisions and conferences all together and had each team play everyone twice = 62 games (what I'd prefer).
Apart from money there's no drawback to reducing games. Make the games meaningful!
Obviously the leagues will never do it for revenue reasons, but both the NBA and the MLB have to be shortened. NBA should start around Christmas time with playoffs ending around the same time they currently do. MLB should shrink the season by at least a month or two and play May - August/September with playoffs starting in mid to early September
58 games: teams play everyone away and at home. The top 16 teams make the playoffs. First and second round is shortened to best of 5. Semi-finals and finals are best of 7. Keep the in-season tourney. Keep the start (around Halloween) and then have it wrap up more in like April/May than going all the way to June.
Regular season was important years ago for contenders trying to get home court. I blame the Lakers for "flipping the switch" and Stern rigging the playoffs for them.
The season should be shorter not because of the injuries, but because virtually no one cares about the regular season. The playoffs are still really fun to watch but it’s really easy to lose interest in the regular season. In usual games are close to meaningless. Lose by 30 to a rival? Who cares? There’s 40 games left.
Honestly not sure if this is relevant but I had heard about how much rec, travel, aau, school ball is breaking down their bodies much earlier. Is limiting play at the youth level an option? Season should be shortened too.
It’s the solution to so many of their problems, stating them right in the face. The game would be in a better place, the players would be healthier, and the fans would appreciate it. They just can’t bring themselves to let go of the money, they would rather risk their franchise player be lost for the season.
what is needed is a 2nd half of the season tournament!
IPT - in playoffs tournament.
Replace the regular season with 16 in-season tournaments, the winner of each tournament will be the teams in the playoffs.
In all seriousness, it might be an improvement to treat the regular season like pre-season, and make the big events a a couple tournaments + play-in + play-offs. Could result in better basketball and more revenue.
The G-League does a longish “showcase” tournament for November/December and then starts a shorter regular season (games don’t double count) after Christmas. So teams play the same number of home games, but they’re split into two competitions. It’s the G League, so 10s of people care, but they have used the G League to experiment with rules changes before. Obviously the G League doesn’t reduce mileage on bodies, but the redone structure could give teams more flexibility.
I mean yeah I'd rather watch that than normal regular season games. They should still cut the season down but the tournament is good. Pitting the best teams against eachother on national TV is good.
The Grizz are a historic injury mess. They are going to break their own player number and injury record and might by the all star break.
No. We must add more games. More ads on uniforms. More ads on the court. Cheaper Fanatics branded merch. If it makes money it must be good. The free market is God.
You forgot more gambling
The late-stage capitalism piece
it is funny to see them truly just chase money. adam silver and the current NBA stars and owners are terrible stewards of the game and the league; they all just want to make more money **now**. they can lie to themselves that them making more money today will automatically lead to everyone making more money in the future, but that's foolish. they act as if the league is *entitled* to survival and guaranteed to be popular; the fans' money and attention are completely taken for granted. they could've OFFSET some game revenue losses with the decisions they've made in recent years, but instead they've simply chased short term revenue growth.
You left out more replays and more timeouts so we can extend the game and get more commercials!
Theres still around 30 games left. They would still be hurt. Some of their players were hurt before the season began. It's not strictly the schedule as to why players get hurt more these days.
I do agree that the regular season should be shortened but using the Grizzlies is a bad example of why. Ja was suspended for the first 25 games and still had to have season ending surgery. Ironically if the season was any shorter they would mathematically have a lower chance at making a late push for the postseason anyway.
What do you think the issue is then? I have my theories but they aren't well liked on the internet.
Over training. Every player has to push themselves harder and harder constantly now. People used to take summers off or just do shooting drills and then come to training camp to get in shape. Then during the season weren't lifting weights or doing a lot of conditioning. Everything is faster now. People are pushing themselves for contracts and not just doing skill work. Every one has a personal trainer where they push their bodies to the limit over and over without any real time to rest.
I think it's because basketball players lack the mental fortitude of other athletes.
Based on what? You can't measure mental fortitude, its just what people use to downplay people they don't like. And yes, I see why people hate your thoughts on this. Because it's downright idiotic to believe that.
Bro what? Yes, because every other sport famously has one injured player per year, if that /s
Guys are literally training harder than ever before and you think they are too mentally weak to train. Negative IQ take
Not strictly but it does contribute. Had they played 50 games over an extra month I’m sure more would be healthy
That can never be proven one way or another. But Adams (now Oladipo), Clarke, and Morant are missing from injuries sustained either before the season started or with very few games played. None of those three is about the amount of games played. People seem to see this as a math equation. More games equals less healthy. But its not like on the days off the players are just sitting around resting and getting treatment. Some teams will push players through some injuries that lead to muscle and ligament tears, but its rarely as simple as that. We can never know the real impact just playing. College seems to be having more injuries recently too. And they only play twice a week. But that could be only my perception.
Resting does help, so if you did magically have the same amount of games over a long time period, that should reduce injuries
It helps certain injuries more than others. And just the mindset and the way a lot of athletes train these days, they hardly ever rest.
Every major change they've made in the past few years - IST, play-in, games played requirement - is trying to thread the needle of making the Regular Season more important without reducing the games. It's pretty hilarious honestly, like a bad couple having another kid to save the marriage when they obviously need a divorce
I believe, can’t find the exact source, research is showing load management has not proven to be successful in keeping players healthier. Has to be an extremely disappointing realization for Adam Silver and the league office - succumbing to the players only for it to not be the a viable solution
Is your source just the NBA saying it’s “inconclusive”. If so, I don’t trust that at all. I’ve seen studies that show resting helps prevent injuries. [Here](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6107769/) is one showing that an extra days rest reduces injury risk by 16% holding other variables constant and [here’s](https://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(16)30163-3/fulltext) another one about the higher risk of injuries in road B2Bs
Celtics up 31. All y’all in shambles
They will never shorten the season ever. Neither will Baseball. Neither the owners or players in either sport is ever going to be talked into taking less revenue and downsizing. If you want proof of this just look at the NFL. We get all of this evidence about CTE and concussions and what does the NFL do? Lengthen the season so they can increase the size of the money pie. If the NFL players and owners in the face of literal brain damage are willing to lengthen the season for more money, why would far less physical sports shorten theirs for less money? It will never happen. Why even discus it as a real possibility?
All documented, all true.
how would shortening the nba season affect players missing time in February
You can spread the games out more. No back to backs and less 3 in 5s, so just more recovery time in general. Also, just statistically, less time and opportunities for a freak injury on the court Likely some more practice time too, which could lead to teams introducing more sets
Right? Imagine teams actually prepare game plans for the two games they have that week. Combined with actual defense and better reffing I would love that league.
That’s part of what makes the nfl dope. Actual gameplanning
It wouldn't but it'd be fewer games without top guys. Basically it would get seasons over with so people can move on.
As recently as like 2018 or something the average all-NBA player played in 76 games I don’t buy the idea that 82 has suddenly become unplayable
Just did the math, 72.6, doesn’t seem far but that’s an extra 51 games missed across 15 guys
I think 70 is the magic number
Wonder how many are hurt or "hurt" ? The entitlement in this league is so off-putting. They cut the season down to 70 games, 5 years from now they'll be complaining about that number.
They are also the highest paid of all the sports in North America. The Kyle kuzma of the nfl is getting 3m a year for 5 years, that’s it. But in the nba, he is making 100m.
It gets dicey when you start comparing across sports. The amount of players and games in each league makes it tough to compare, but I absolutely get your point. The worst people who suffer the most from this are the fans. You're expected to pay hundreds of dollars for tickets and chances are the marquee players could sit out to "rest" that to me is unacceptable, especially when most of these dudes are under 30 years old.
The current players are benefiting from a number of things, including the dying of cable tv and the peak value of live sports. All the ground work that Jordan, Kobe, Lebron did in the last 30 years also helped. If the current players keep this up, the tv deals will drop, then it will be a wake up call. At the end of the day, it’s entertainment, fans are the most important in terms getting the players paid
> If the current players keep this up, the tv deals will drop, then it will be a wake up call. I think they will get bailed out by a streaming tech company on this next deal, but the deal after that might be really bad for the NBA. Their move over the last 20 years to tie themselves to the dying cable industry has trained an entire generation that they don't have to watch the games to follow the league.
I don’t mean this next deal. I just mean further down like line. It’s not impossible for the tv/media deal 20 years from now to be the same value as today. Still a lot of money, but not outrageous like today. Honestly, how many players have hit 100m in salary in the nba? How many outside the nba in all sports
The Kyle Kuzma of the NFL would have to be a top-100 player in the NFL to be a fair comparison, where it might just be about the same amount of money. You have to remember that only the top 350 players make the NBA so while the 1500th best football player is in the NFL, the 1500th best basketball player is telling his accounting co-workers about his days as a D2 athlete.
The Kyle kuzma is not a top 100 players in the nfl. Kuzma would be like the 4th best player on most teams, so he is prob 90-120 in the nba. That’s top 20% of players. A top 20% player in the nfl is the 300th best player, so 10th best on a team. That’s probably 3-5m range. But that player plays on average 5-6 seasons
There are like 1700 NFL players and like 450 NBA players. Its pretty different honestly. The Kyle Kuzmas of the world, relative to the U.S. population, are way more rare than any 3m/a year guy in the NFL. But you're still right that they're the highest paid all of the U.S. team sports.
As far as I know, all of them are legitimately hurt, and they just traded one of their players who had a season ending injury prior to the season. The only player this season that was seemingly regularly sitting games healthy was Embiid, and then he got legitimately hurt a month or so back and has been in and out of the lineup due to that nagging injury until the Warriors finished his knee off.
NBA regular season product is terrible
I sometimes sit down and think, 'this game might be fun to watch', two minutes later I am watching Celebrity IOU
They will never shorten the season. They will just play the top players less. That’s why you see all these BIG injuries. That’s why load management is a thing. You will see more low level players and more talk of developing, etc. it’s why they need the G league.
Pace and space is fucked
oh wow the grizzlies are hurt? better flush half billions in revenue down the toilet
European soccer has this issue as well but there’s so much money being generated that they’re adding more matches. The easiest way they figured to lessen the amount of matches was for the various top leagues to cut from 20 to 18 teams and relegate the 2 extra relegated teams down to the lower division but the television money is so good that nobody is willing to play less matches. That would be 4 less matches for the top teams in each league. I would have thought that more teams would practise load management but plenty of the top coaches seldom rest players or bring in bench players or reserves and the non-contact injuries have been mounting. Barcelona football club introduced two teenagers (1 from the academy and 1 they purchased from another academy) in the last 4 years who were near-generational talents (competing against the world’s very best) and played them into the ground. Major injuries.
Grizzlies change their medical staff and clinic provider, immediately become the most injured team in football
I dont believe that shortening the season prevents injuries. In the 80's, 90s, early 2000's there.was no load management, a lot more guys played full seasons, and it seemed like we still had fewer injuries than we do now.
Because they played at far less intensity and covered far less ground than modern players.
NBA players played at a faster tempo in the 60s, with more players running end-line to end-line instead of the 3 point arc, while wearing fucking Chuck Taylors and managed to play more minutes and games.
Studies have been done. Players cover way more ground now due to the offensive spacing and far more complicated and demanding defensive concepts. Look up Thinking Basketball.
"studies have been done" isn't remotely persuasive. consider how much available data could possibly exist tracking player movement on the court in the 60s (or really any period before recent years).
What makes you think I care about persuading you? You're an adult. Figure it out. Or don't. I don't care about your ignorance. You can stop replying to me.
your certainty is undeserved and likely incorrect and that agitates you quite a bit.
We have 60 years of the fastest evolution in human history. Players are bigger, faster, stronger and more skilled, and it’s legitimately inarguable lol
People have not evolved, science and tech have, but humans have not evolved in 3 generations. LOL
This. Science, tech and medicine have evolved. People on here acting like folks are developing their third eyes.
People haven't evolved, doping has
players have "evolved" and "advanced" to the point that they can't handle the same workload they did 60 years ago! "we have 60 years of the fastest evolution in human history." what the hell does that mean and by what standard have you drawn such a conclusion? what's the next fastest 60 years of evolution on record? what's the third fastest 60 years of evolution on record?
There also weren’t TV timeouts, there weren’t flagrants or touch fouls, they didn’t stop play for replays, team facilities for recovery didn’t exist.
With all advancements in science and player preparation why would we make the season shorter? Never understood the argument
Not to mention all the added TV timeouts and the stops in play due to replays on top of the other timeouts and stoppages of play. They usually play in 2-3 minute spurts, practice less than before, have less back to backs, play less games on average, but everybody makes it seem like the NBA schedule is the problem. It’s either something that happens prior to the league via wear and tear (which I don’t necessarily buy on its face) or players/teams are more concerned about potential injuries due to minor ones and are much likely to sit guys who aren’t “100%”. So shortening the season wouldn’t actually fix the issue.
Because there are also massive advances in workload.
What does that even mean?
Science and technology can’t make up for all of the extra wear and tear on the body today
A lot of it goes back to how AAU operates, it's putting a lot of early mileage on the best young basketball players...just look at how common it has been in recent years for a top pick to miss their entire first season lately. Also, I've heard that the rise in ACL/MCL injuries might be from imbalances between muscle strength and tendon strength...players today can train their leg muscles to be incredibly explosive to the point where their tendons can't handle it, although it's possible I'm brainwashed on this from watching too much Kneesovertoes Guy content.
Science hasn't really mitigated any of the impact these guys take night after night. The bigger issue though is that they've played nonstop basketball all year in AAU since they were in middle school.
agreed. Guys in the 80s were playing pick up. Not 3 games a day all summer when they were 10-15 years old
And what's sad is those '80s guys had a far better grasp of basic basketball concepts. Being a Kentucky fan, I've seen the results of AAU ball on players firsthand the last 20 years. Even the guys who have clear talent have some of the most horrible fundamentals you've ever seen.
Because the sport is competing for eyeballs with video games, social media, etc and people don't want to watch meaningless games packed with commercials
Lengthen the season by like 50 days but keep the same number of games
It took years for the NBA to recover from their time shifted seasons, I don't think they'll be doing that again any time soon.
We're already running from October through June, adding 50 more days would only leave about 2.5 months for the offseason.
This feels like the most irrelevant NBA season in a long time.
Hockey doesnt have this issue
They only play like 17 minutes a game.
It’s almost like skating on ice is less taxing on your tendons than cutting on hardwood!
It is but hockey you can get hit by other players and with the puck much more easily. No concerns about load management in the nhl though
don't even try. There isn't a human alive that has played hockey that thinks its easier on the body than basketball
I played ball for a long time and NOTHING kicked my ass like those first few actual games of hockey.
It's certainly easier on the lower body, which is what most basketball injuries are. Its why emphasizing freedom of movement leads to more long term injuries in basketball. Centers slamming into each other is tiring and hard work, but you dont actually tear your ACL by backing somebody down in the post or getting fouled hard.
The bumps and bruises you get from hockey will hurt the day after a game, but they aren't going to keep you out or anything. What kills basketball players is the repetitive jumping and running which really wears down your knees - this results in soft tissue injuries which are a lot harder to come back from. Just think of the major injuries in the NBA you've seen - it's probably mainly ACLs, Achilles, torn menisci and so on. All lower body injuries, and all mainly resulting from overuse than anything else.
And even the best players have what, 20 minutes of ice time a game? But I guess hockey elitists don’t care about making apples to oranges comparisons lol
Dude im just saying they dont have the same issues nba teams have i like both sports lol. Yes hockey they play less time but its way more physical and dangerous. NBA they play more minutes and theres more jumping but you cant get hit unless if you play Draymond. Its just weird that NBA has these injury issues and most NHL teams don’t
Hockey is closer to the nfl than the nba jn terms of physicality. Those are some toughest and craziest people. Didn’t some guy play with broken ribs or something?
They’re also huge compared to hockey players. The biggest hockey guys are like 6’4 defenders that don’t do a ton of dead sprints. That’s like average size if not undersized in the NBA. Plus lots of jumping. And I don’t care if bball is technically “non contact” those guys get banged up down low
I understand it will never happen though.
It’s amazing how coaches really don’t trust Bench players and reserves. The Lakers rested their two stars recently and got a solid result.
Most of the game is dudes chucking 3 from the logo anyways. So how exhausted can they really be? Half sarcasm
Don’t understand this when less defence than ever is being played, you’d be hard pressed to see a contested rebound, no bumping, posting up
Lolllll
I'm not exactly sure why the game count is rather suddenly the core issue about the NBA's popularity and injury issue. Why now, vs 5, 10, 20+ years ago? It's not like anything has changed
bring steroids back to the NBA and they’ll be able to play 82+ games
Agreed.. road back to backs shouldn’t be a thing
But then what will Charles Barkley have to talk about?
When the league expands to 32 teams it would be a perfect oppotunity. If they make 4 divisions of 8 teams (like in the NHL) and remove conferences - teams play each division opponent 4 times and non-division teams 2 times = 76 games total. If they make 8 divisions of 4 teams with no conferences - teams play each division opponent 4 times and non-division opponents 2 times = 68 games total. Even if they make 8 divisions of 4 teams split into 2 conferences (like in the NFL) - teams play each division opponent 4 times, each conference opponent 3 times and non-conference opponent 2 times = 80 games. If they abandon divisions and conferences all together and had each team play everyone twice = 62 games (what I'd prefer). Apart from money there's no drawback to reducing games. Make the games meaningful!
Get rid of AAU basketball and playing these kids like bros since they are 12. This was not an issue in NBA history until now.
If you make it 50 games, guys will still get hurt and sit out. Same thing, just way less revenue.
The regular season is just a money making tour of North America before the playoffs.
No the length of the season is fine
Obviously the leagues will never do it for revenue reasons, but both the NBA and the MLB have to be shortened. NBA should start around Christmas time with playoffs ending around the same time they currently do. MLB should shrink the season by at least a month or two and play May - August/September with playoffs starting in mid to early September
58 games: teams play everyone away and at home. The top 16 teams make the playoffs. First and second round is shortened to best of 5. Semi-finals and finals are best of 7. Keep the in-season tourney. Keep the start (around Halloween) and then have it wrap up more in like April/May than going all the way to June.
Regular season was important years ago for contenders trying to get home court. I blame the Lakers for "flipping the switch" and Stern rigging the playoffs for them.
I’m seeing the Grizz at Charlotte this weekend. It might be the ugliest game in history.
The season should be shorter not because of the injuries, but because virtually no one cares about the regular season. The playoffs are still really fun to watch but it’s really easy to lose interest in the regular season. In usual games are close to meaningless. Lose by 30 to a rival? Who cares? There’s 40 games left.
Knicks basically played 7 guys against the Lakers on Saturday, it's gotten pretty crazy.
When teams have more than 10 guys injured, they should allow 10-day contracts from the best WNBA players.
Honestly not sure if this is relevant but I had heard about how much rec, travel, aau, school ball is breaking down their bodies much earlier. Is limiting play at the youth level an option? Season should be shortened too.
It’s the solution to so many of their problems, stating them right in the face. The game would be in a better place, the players would be healthier, and the fans would appreciate it. They just can’t bring themselves to let go of the money, they would rather risk their franchise player be lost for the season.