Unpopular Opinion: The NBA should shorten their season.

Following the NBA season can sometimes feel like watching paint dry – It’s just so long and the playoffs can feel like eons away.

When I was younger, my memories don’t involve watching regular season games where players were lollygagging up and down the court just to put on a show for the fans, they were filled with exciting post-season games where every game means everything.

I remember watching Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and the Lakers going up against the big three, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, of the Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals. Every game seemed like it would be that last game of basketball that would ever be played.

Nobody remembers when the Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night in December.

The 82-game season needs to be shortened.

Load Management

Load management has only been a prominent thing in the last couple of years. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s when, for any physical reason not deemed an injury, a player sits out games.

Organizations and coaches typically do this with superstar-type players to save their energy and stardom for the playoffs. Teams usually do this when they know they have secured their spot in the playoffs.

Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers are famously known for doing this during the 2019 season.

I understand that players put a lot of miles on their legs during the season and they don’t have a lot of time to rest, but it’s disappointing to fans when they have driven sometimes hundreds of miles to watch their favorite superstar play, only to find out that they are sitting that game.

Not to mention, tickets aren’t cheap most of the time.

In my opinion, it’s not fair to the fans sacrificing their time and money to come to a game to not see their favorite superstar player.

Drowns Out Excitement

Why is there so much hype surrounding football games and their respective seasons?

I’ll tell you why: It’s because they have less than a quarter of the games that the NBA has. In college football and the NFL, EVERY game counts.

And what happens when every game counts?

Players put everything they have into each and every game because they know if they even let up for one play, it could cost them the game and maybe even the season.

In the NBA, I’d be willing to bet that players don’t give 100% each game – mainly because they don’t have to. There are so many games that players can afford to ease off the gas a little bit.

Shortening the season to even a 60-game season would be great, in my opinion. Yes, the game from a business standpoint would take a little bit of a hit, but there are so many upsides to it: Players have extra motivation to play harder, every game is like game seven of the finals, stadiums are backed to capacity etc.

Nobody wants to see Lebron James playing only 15 minutes in a game three-fourths of the way through the season.

Conclusion

Those are my two reasons why I think the NBA should shorten their current 82-game season.

Basically, it all boils down to having every game count and the players act like it. It seems like everyone is hyped and motivated at both the beginning of the season and before the playoffs. The middle kind of gets lost, almost as if it disappears from our minds.

I don’t know. Maybe that’s just me.

All I’m saying is I think there is some validity in my argument and it is a topic that Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA should consider.