You cannot really call me an NBA fan anymore. I tune in for Timberwolves playoff games out of solidarity for my friends and my adopted home, and every couple years, I take up someone's offer of a spare ticket. However, my interest has waned considerably since I obsessed over the Mavericks and talked myself into the likes of Shane Larkin, Nerlens Noel, and Dennis Smith Jr. being the guys who would halt the team's post-championship slide into mediocrity.
I do like the slower pace, imperfection, and vastly superior atmospheres of college basketball more, but I have never been one of these people who thinks the NBA isn't real basketball. Most of my faded interest is because my favorite athlete of all-time retired and my team just could not stop associating with men accused of harassing and assaulting women. The rest of it is that I just do not want to spend as much time as I did when I was a teenager watching literally every sport. The Mavericks betrayed me — and have spent every moment since making sure I never come back — but the NBA as a whole is more like an old friend I drifted away from but still want to check in on every once in a while.
That also makes me kind of a catty jerk who can't mind his own business. Like everyone who doesn't routinely watch the NBA anymore, I have strong opinions on the NBA. Continuation fouls are way too generous! (They were when I watched, too.) Being able to challenge fouls is stupid on its face, even speaking as someone who generally supports video review in sports! The ninth- and tenth-place teams in each conference have no business playing postseason games! The NBA Cup is silly! Nike has made a mess of the league's uniforms! A league that makes such absurd amounts of money does not need to give floor space, jersey space, and so much of the screen to ads!
This post is not about any of that, though. (For every criticism I list above, I have even more for the sports I do watch closely — on and off, I've been drafting a baseball manifesto for years.) I want to offer my opinion on something most people seemingly agree on, whether they play in or coach in or just follow the league: The regular season needs to be shorter.
How much shorter? Honestly, not much. The 82-game season has lasted for so long because it worked. Getting to watch your team for an extended season, with familiar rhythms, chances to see everyone else in the league, and narratives whose arcs are much longer than the playoffs, is kind of the whole point. For most of the league, a 41-game season ticket package is a great deal for someone who loves attending basketball games.
The problem is that playing basketball is harder. Not only is the player pool dramatically more athletic across the board than even 15 years ago; players are also asked to play more basketball.
