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The NBA has been forced to do some soul-searching this season due to growing concerns about the impact analytics have had on the product on the court—and, more importantly, the television ratings its games are able to generate. It’s unclear if any major changes are in store, but Adam Silver made it clear he’s a fan of one fairly drastic measure involving the length of quarters.
Most sports fans don’t need to look at the numbers that shows the NBA trails only the NFL as the most popular league in the United States to know that’s the case, but it has experienced a significant decline in viewership over the past 15 years after peaking at the start of the 2010s.
NBA ratings on ESPN were down 28% at the start of the season compared to the same stretch last year, and while they’ve rebounded a bit in the wake of the Christmas slate, you have to imagine the powers that be aren’t thrilled with the way things have been trending.
One of the biggest topics of conversation has been the leaguewide adoption of offensive strategies that prioritize three-point shots, a data-driven approach that most people seem to agree has made games less entertaining to watch.
Adam Silver has repeatedly acknowledged that reality while teasing potential changes, but it doesn’t seem like the NBA is in a huge rush to introduce any dramatic shifts.
With that said, the man who’s served as the commissioner of the NBA since 2014 threw his support behind one tweak that firmly falls under that umbrella during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday where he said he’s a “fan” of the idea of reducing the length of quarters from 12 to 10 minutes.
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 admitted he’s likely in the minority on that front while acknowledging the ramifications that pivot would have on the record books but noted 10-minute quarters (which FIBA uses and would make NBA games the same length as college contests) would lead to the average showdown clocking in at close to two hours as opposed to the approximately two hours and twenty minutes that’s currently the mean.
The NBA did temporarily adopt 10-minute quarters prior to the 1951-52 season but extended them to 12 minutes ahead of the campaign that began in 1954—a change that’s obviously still in place.
It’s kind of hard to imagine this reduction being rolled out given the aforementioned statistical implications, but the fact that Silver publically mentioned it in the first place means it’s something that isn’t out of the realm of possibility.