Adam Silver Sends Blunt Message on Major NBA Regular Season Complaint

Adam Silver Sends Blunt Message on Major NBA Regular Season Complaint originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Adam Silver became NBA commissioner in February 2014, and it didn’t take him too long to show he was the right man for the job. Months after Silver took over from David Stern, he displayed great leadership during the Donald Sterling scandal.

Recordings of Sterling, who was the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner at the time, making racist remarks were released by TMZ in April 2014, and Silver decided to ban him from the NBA for life. He was widely praised for taking swift action and became a very popular figure in the basketball world.

Silver has also earned praise over the years for not shying away from change, but there is one area where he has dug his heels in.

Adam Silver speaks to the media before Game 1 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center.Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

There have been growing calls for the NBA to shorten the regular season. Teams have played 82 games a season since 1967-68, but that has been deemed too big a number now by some.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told The Athletic that he would like the season reduced to 65 games. Kerr even emailed Silver before the start of this season to plead his case.

Kerr feels that with the pace and space in today’s game, it isn’t ideal to make players play 82 games. Even the Denver Nuggets star Aaron Gordon also vouched for a more relaxed schedule. Silver, however, doesn’t feel there is a need for change.

“I don’t really see the benefit to reducing the number of games,” Silver said at the press conference ahead of the NBA Finals.

“People used to say you should reduce the number of games because it will lead to a reduction in a number of injuries. We have absolutely no data to suggest that.

“If that were the case, you would think you have more injuries in April than October. We don’t see that. Or you would think you’d see more injuries in the playoffs than you do in the regular season. We don’t see that either,”

Rather, Silver stated that he would rather “start earlier maybe or push a little bit later.” The NBA regular season starts in October, while the playoffs end in June. There is a greater chance that either the start or end date changes than the number of games.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.

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