Let me preface this by saying I’m a relatively new fan from the UK, I’ve only been watching/keeping up with the league since 2018, even if I was aware of various legends way before then. I’ll readily admit that mostly bc of the time difference I’m the type of NBA fan who only watches the playoffs, and even then since I’m not a student anymore i wonder if, from now on really, I’ll have the time/energy to just be up in the middle of the night watching when I have a long commute in the morning. But these are just a collection of thoughts I’ve had over the years.

With that out the way, I think we can all agree it’s pretty crazy that for a team to win a title they have to play 100+ games right? If it was up to me, I’d cut it down to a 58 game regular season where every team plays each other twice, once home and once away. I think the amount of games in the playoffs are fine, but if we had to cut there too then all I’d do is simply make the first round a best of 3 (didn’t it used to be this?).

I’m well aware that the league will probably never reduce the season as that means less money, and it would also fuck up the record books, but I think it would solve two huge problems facing the league in load management and regular season apathy, and would also have some other side effects as well.

Load Management/Player Health Honestly I’m surprised load management only really became an issue in recent years. I’m aware that bc I grew up a football (soccer) fan, watching and going to Tottenham since 2008 (yes I’m well aware we’re a joke) it’s changed my perspective on load management, as I’ve known football teams to rotate in smaller cup competitions for as long as I can remember. Of course football has those options where a team can rotate vs the NBA which is just the one competition, but I’ve always found the whole ‘players should play every game as long as they’re not injured’ argument to be a lazy one, as people don’t realise how players (in all sports) are constantly carrying injuries. They’re not robots; they always have at least a little knock here or there. However the schedule list doesn’t give them too much help as the games come thick and fast. Cutting the regular season to 59 games would allow players more rest which boosts their overall play when they are out there (remember when Kyrie was playing like one game a week and then going off when he did play?). It would also give teams extra time to prepare for games, which would raise the standards closer to the level you see in playoff basketball where teams can pour over the tactics and analytics more

Regular Season Apathy People don’t care about the regular season. Players have said it, like Trae Young did recently, and teams show us they agree in the way they approach it. I think this is bc the league has made the regular season redundant by making it mean nothing more than how playoff seeding is decided and players competing for individual awards. I’m not saying teams should get a trophy for reg season performance, but I think if it was cut to 59 games, each individual game would mean a lot more. I really doubt a mid season tournament will do anything to make teams and players view the regular season any differently. I think increasing each individual game’s meaning would cause rivalries to actually become more of a thing in the NBA, rather than what it is right now.

Upsets (if playoffs were reduced) The NBA has very few actual upsets. Of course this is bc it’s near impossible for a genuinely worse team to beat a better one 4 times in a series, but I think this something the NBA misses, especially when it comes to gaining the interest of neutral fans. Just look at the recent World Cup; I think a lot of Americans actually gave a fuck about this most recent edition bc of all the upsets, at least that’s the impression I got from social media. The current system in the NBA rewards the best teams, but I’d love to see more 07 We Believe Warriors type moments in the league, and it would boost their popularity as I’ve got the impression over the years that the league is hyperaware they’re the secondary sport in America behind the NFL. I saw someone once say if the playoffs were reduced it would turn things into a coin flip but I think that would only happen if it turned into a ‘one game decides all’ system. A best of 3 at least in the first round would mean that we can get to the more fun bits of the playoffs quicker, with players in better shape physically as they had to expend less energy to get to the second round. The best teams should beat the worst ones most of the time, but in a best of 3 there’s more chance for a ‘worse’ team to sneak 2 wins and get an upset.

Scarcity = Value I think reducing the season would lead to increased attention from fans as the scarcity of the product would cause an effect similar to tv shows that release weekly or the way comic books are released. Sometimes less is more. I don’t know a thing about the NFL but I think that beyond all the cultural/historic reasons as to why American football is more popular than basketball, a massive part of it is that the NFL is a lot more scarce. Put it in entertainment terms, what tv show would you rather watch, a 20 episode season with a well paced plot that doesn’t waste time or a 100 episode season where the first 82 episodes are effectively filler? Or what album would you prefer to listen to, a concise 20 track concept album or a 100 track album with 82 reference tracks? Less is more, and the NBA has lost sight of that.

Of course, like I said before, the league is a business and the financial side of this ensures it stays as fan fiction but am I right to think less games would help a lot?

Edit: genuinely didn’t expect anyone to actually read this so huge apologies for the way it’s formatted, i did it on notes and just copy and pasted it into the app. Certain parts should be bold and certain words should be in italics but oh well it’s up now.