Adam Silver ‘likes the idea’ of 40-minute NBA games, Chris Mannix says, as star injuries pile up, but Mannix doesn’t see how the money works

Adam Silver reportedly likes the idea of shorter NBA games. Chris Mannix, the Sports Illustrated NBA writer, said in a Sports Illustrated TV appearance with Rachel Nichols that circulated Tuesday that the commissioner is receptive to cutting games from 48 minutes to 40, four 10-minute quarters in place of four 12-minute ones. “I actually think Adam Silver, from what I’ve heard, like he likes the idea of 40-minute games,” Mannix said. He also said he does not see how it would work financially.

Adam Silver reportedly likes the idea of cutting NBA games to 40 minutes, per @SIChrisMannix 👀

(Via @SInow) pic.twitter.com/YFNHmmYJzI

— NBABase (@TheNBABase) November 3, 2026

This is a report of what Silver is thinking, not a proposal. We found no statement from Silver or the league on Tuesday, and nothing has been put in front of the competition committee or the Board of Governors in the coverage we reviewed. What gives the story weight is that Silver has said something similar in public before, and that the idea is back in the conversation because of how many stars are hurt.

What Silver has said before

On Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, Silver said on the Dan Patrick Show that he was “a fan of four 10-minute quarters.” “As we get more involved in global basketball, the NBA is the only league that plays 48 minutes,” he said, adding that he was “probably in the minority” and “not sure that many others are” a fan. His case was about television, not injuries: “I think that a two-hour format for a game is more consistent with modern television habits.” He conceded the cost, too, saying he was putting aside “what it means for records and things like that.”

Mannix called Silver “a globalist when it comes to basketball,” which fits that 2025 answer. FIBA games, the EuroLeague, college basketball and the WNBA all play 40 minutes. Only the NBA plays 48.

Why it is back now: the injury list

The timing is the injury list. Mark Cuban asked the league to “shorten the game to 40 minutes” on Friday, Oct. 30, the day 49 players were ruled out of 10 games, as we reported in our story on the Cuban post and that injury report. The Oklahoma City Thunder are missing Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Chet Holmgren, and Anthony Edwards is out after knee surgery, which we covered in our look at his supermax and the 65-game rule. Mannix tied his comments to that: “I think you’d rather be proactive than reactive,” he said, and “people are paying for tickets to watch stars.”

“It’s the most star-driven league of the four major sports, and not seeing stars is a big problem for the NBA,” Mannix said. “I think something has to be done. This is bad.” Cutting the schedule is not reasonable either, he added.

Mannix’s two objections

The first is money. National television deals signed for the 2025-26 season and beyond are built around 48-minute games and their commercial breaks, and fewer minutes means fewer ad slots. Cuban admitted as much in his post, saying a shorter game “would reduce injuries and ad inventory” but arguing that ratings would rise to compensate.

The second is who actually loses minutes. “It’s not going to affect the minutes of stars,” Mannix said. “You’re just going to see bench guys get more and more marginalized, to the point where teams will be like, ‘We don’t need a 15-man rotation. We just need 10 guys.’” A coach in a close game can still ride his best players, and a star who plays 36 minutes now could keep playing 36, only as a bigger share of a shorter game. Only the minutes at the back of the rotation shrink for certain.

What 40 minutes would do on paper

Measure	48-minute game	40-minute game
Quarter length	12 minutes	10 minutes
Game time on the clock	48 minutes	40 minutes, 16.7 percent less
Regular-season minutes per team	3,936 (82 games)	3,280, a drop of 656, about 13.7 games’ worth
Luka Dončić’s league-leading 38.3 points a game, at the same scoring rate	38.3	about 31.9
A star who plays 36 minutes now, at the same share of the game	36	30

The table is simple arithmetic, not a projection, and it shows why Silver’s own caveat about records matters. Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game came in 48 minutes. Every per-game record would be set against an eight-minute-shorter benchmark, and comparing eras would get harder. A Sports Illustrated newsletter made the same point when Silver first raised the idea in January 2025, adding that NBA games were already the shortest of the four major North American leagues, at about two hours and 15 minutes, and that the league’s problem might be 82 games rather than 48 minutes.

What happens next

Nothing, for now. A change to the length of the game would need the Board of Governors and, in practice, the players’ union, and it would cut into broadcast contracts that are built around 48 minutes. The league’s recent answers to the star-availability problem have gone the other way, with the 65-game minimum for most end-of-season awards and the player participation policy that limits when healthy stars can sit. If Silver’s interest is real, the next step would be hearing it from him on the record. We will follow it on our Around the league page.