{"id":120902,"date":"2025-01-30T07:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T12:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=120902"},"modified":"2025-01-30T07:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T12:23:09","slug":"nba-10-minute-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/30\/nba-10-minute-quarter\/","title":{"rendered":"The NBA Wants to Copy the EuroLeague"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Adam Silver recently floated an idea of shortening the NBA game by almost 20%. Instead of four 12 minute quarters, he suggested that the NBA should consider an idea of having four 10 minute quarters. But will that solve anything? Will that solve the issue of ratings and viewership going down?<\/p>\n<h2>The NBA Wants to Copy the EuroLeague<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking on the Dan Patrick Show, Silver talked about how the NBA can make games shorter, which he believes would deliver a better viewing experience. He said,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we get more involved in global basketball, the NBA is the only league that plays 48 minutes. And I would be &#8212; I am &#8212; a fan of four 10-minute quarters. I&#8217;m not sure that many others are. Putting aside what it means for records and things like that, yeah, I think that a two-hour format for a game is more consistent with modern television habits.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Adam Silver says he&#039;s a fan of changing the NBA to 10-minute quarters \ud83d\udc40\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pSIl5mz7lQI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This season, the average NBA game has run for two hours and 16 minutes. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/43617073\/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-floats-idea-shortening-games-10-minute-quarters\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">According to ESPN research<\/a>, that is nearly identical to the past 15 seasons. With the NBA trying to grow more <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/17\/adam-silver-nba-expansion-international\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">globally<\/a>, will a change help that?<\/p>\n<h3>Does the NBA Need 10 Minute Quarters?<\/h3>\n<p>Silver talked about how the new format would help player safety. The new compact television product will serve as a compromise between people who believe the season is too long, and team governors who don\u2019t want to sacrifice game revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Player injuries and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/08\/03\/the-real-reason-behind-nba-players-load-management\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">load management<\/a> have become a huge problem for the league in recent years. The NBA has taken measures like player participation policy and others to address the issue of star players missing time. However, shortening the game might not provide the result the NBA is looking for. Stars who need rest are going to lose the fewest minutes. Coaches will continue playing their best players 30 minutes a night. Instead, role players will be the ones who will lose playing opportunities and a chance to prove themselves. For example, a player averaging 20 minutes per night, earning little more than the mid-level exception, might see his minutes drop to 12-14 per night. His numbers will go down, and any chance of securing a more valuable contract will go away.<\/p>\n<h3>How EuroLeague Keeps Games Interesting<\/h3>\n<p>Compared to NBA games, EuroLeague games are generally shorter in duration. The average NBA game runs for two hours and 15 minutes, but often, games can last up to two and a half to three hours. Commercial breaks, halftime shows, timeouts, and everything in between can prolong the game.<\/p>\n<p>EuroLeague basketball games have 40-minute playtime, but more importantly, they tend to be more concise and focused on continuous gameplay.<\/p>\n<p>The format of four quarters of 10 minutes ensures a fast-paced and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/30\/nba-attendance-rates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">action-packed game<\/a>, without players jacking up threes.<\/p>\n<h3>Is Game Time Really the Issue?<\/h3>\n<p>The problem with the NBA is not how long quarters last. It is how long the game lasts because of all the commercials, shows, and television programs that take away from the game.<\/p>\n<p>If we say that the average game runs for two hours and 15 minutes, which means that you are spending nearly three times more time on a game that has 48 minutes of game time. Cutting it down to 120 minutes, which should be plenty of time for timeouts, commercials, reviews, and everything in between, makes it 2.5 times.<\/p>\n<p>People with League Pass know how many times they hit the fast-forward 10-second button. You start to realize how many 20 and 30-second periods of time exist on dead balls and free throws. That slows the game down, and by the time halftime comes, you feel exhausted.<\/p>\n<p>For comparison, Australia\u2019s NBL play ten minute quarters, as well as the EuroLeague and FIBA international play.<\/p>\n<p>Here is one other <a href=\"https:\/\/europrobasket.com\/american-vs-european-basketball-the-differences\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">comparison<\/a>. In EuroLeague, only coaches can call a timeout, and they get two in the first and three in the second half. That is a total of five timeouts, each lasting 60 seconds. Timeouts do not carry over. In the NBA, coaches and players can call timeouts, with the NBA allowing seven regular timeouts and two per overtime period. There are 20, 60, and 100 seconds timeouts, and they can be carried over to overtime.<\/p>\n<h3>Fans Don\u2019t Support the 10 Minute Quarter Change<\/h3>\n<p>Hours after NBA&#8217;s commissioner Adam Silver\u2019s interview in which he talked about changing the NBA game to four 10-minute quarters, fans on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/dpshow\/status\/1884642418768683268\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/NBATalk\/comments\/1id9c0b\/adam_silver_suggests_nba_could_shorten_games_to\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reddit<\/a> went nuts. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/nba\/comments\/1id3y0j\/adam_silver_suggests_nba_could_shorten_games_to\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">comments<\/a> are certainly not assuring, and it doesn\u2019t seem like the change will solve the issue. Most of them comment that after complaining that games are dragging on too long with constant delays and interruptions instead of watching guys play, Silver proposes something that keeps the same delays, but shortens the gameplay.<\/p>\n<p>But more importantly, the question for fans is whether shorter games will result in cheaper tickets and cheaper <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/14\/pay-per-view-nba\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">streaming TV prices<\/a>? It is all about the money!<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: \u00a9 Reuters via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adam Silver recently floated an idea of shortening the NBA game by almost 20%. Instead of four 12 minute quarters, he suggested that the NBA should consider an idea of having four 10 minute quarters. But will that solve anything? Will that solve the issue of ratings and viewership going down? The NBA Wants to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":120905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-120902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-adam-silver"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120915,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120902\/revisions\/120915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}