“Silver, we have a problem.” Another prime time Saturday night NBA game was sullied by the sitting of stars. Last week, it was Steph, Klay, and Draymond; this week, it was LeBron, Kyrie, and Love. Something has to give!
I have three ways to fix it:
-Reduce the amount of games from 82 to 60. 82 games is just way too much. Because they’re too many games, some teams feel they have no choice but to rest players throughout the course of the season. The regular season is being devalued. Only way to fix it is to limit the amount of games.
-Next, start the season on Christmas Day. The NBA season starts in late October. During that time, the NBA is competing with the NFL. The NFL is king, and is kind of untouchable. So, if you start the season in December, you do not have to compete as much with the NFL, which brings more attention to the NBA.
-Lastly, extend the season into early August. In July and August, the only sport the NBA would be competing with is MLB. Not much is going on in sports during that time. Also, you do not have to worry about the NFL because pre-season starts in early August. The current NBA season goes from late October-June. Under my plan, the season would go from December 25th-August. The draft would be in mid-August. Summer/fall league would be August into September, and training camp would start in November. Pre-season would start in December, and the season would begin on December 25th.
It might be radical, but these changes would end the issue of players sitting out. Also, it would drive more fans to the NBA. Will the league reduce games? No! Will the league push the season back? Probably not!
