Mark Cuban: Shorter NBA games would improve league ‘180 degrees’

Former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban has an idea for how the NBA can improve its product.

Make the games shorter.

Appearing on Front Office Sports’ “Portfolio Players” series, Cuban argued that reducing NBA games from 48 minutes to 40 minutes would dramatically improve the viewing experience for fans.

“I don’t think it’s the length of the season,” Cuban said. “I think it’s the length of the games.”

Cuban pointed to the NFL’s popularity despite relatively little actual gameplay time, arguing modern audiences simply consume sports differently now.

“You don’t have to commit brain time or attention time for more than 15 minutes,” Cuban said of football broadcasts.

He also referenced Major League Baseball’s recent pace-of-play changes, which helped shorten games and coincided with increased ratings and fan engagement.

Cuban believes the NBA could benefit from something similar.

“I really think that if the NBA went from 48 minutes to 40 minutes, it would change it 180 degrees for the better,” he said.

Cuban also argued that shorter games would make every possession feel more meaningful while potentially creating more upsets and tighter finishes.

“The game gets compressed enough where there’s more action and every possession becomes more important,” he said.

The idea itself isn’t exactly radical internationally.

Olympic basketball, as well as most international competition, already uses 40-minute games. College basketball effectively does too with two 20-minute halves.

Cuban acknowledged he pitched the idea to the NBA multiple times during his years as owner of the Mavericks.

“The shorter the amount of playing time,” he said, “the better the response.”