Cavs’ Darius Garland Not At All In Favor Of Changing To 40-Minute Games

February 16, 2025

Dear NBA commissioner Adam Silver, please throw away any ideas of 40-minute games. That seems to be the sentiment of pro basketball players and fans, including Cavaliers All-Star Darius Garland.

In case you missed it, Silver recently went on The Dan Patrick Show and suggested the league could consider moving the time of quarters from the current 12 minutes … to just 10. That would wipe away eight minutes of basketball per night.

Coaches have gone on record saying they think it’s a bad idea. Nuggets coach Michael Malone went as far as referencing the “Barnum & Bailey” circus act.

Garland also quickly shot down the concept when asked about it at NBA All-Star weekend in San Francisco.

“(Change) to 40-minute games? No,” Garland said after being asked by Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. “I’m cool with 12-minute quarters.”

Sam is NOT a fan of shortening the quarter length.

"I don't think that will ever go through, thankfully. It's a terrible idea."

– @AmicoHoops pic.twitter.com/Tlz7HNIdsx

— Full Court Cleveland (@FullCourtCLE) January 31, 2025

Silver cited “viewer habits” as a reason to consider shortening quarters, though it hardly seems as if people will tune in more if you give them less. On the bright side, there’s been so much backlash against it that the league office may have already put the idea to rest.

Garland is just one of many in the NBA who have gone on record saying the league doesn’t need to mess with success.

That said, he is open to some changes. He also said he’d be open to the addition of a “4-point line” just a few feet back of the current 3-pointer. And when asked which city should get an expansion team next, Garland went with Nashville.

Why Nashville? “Because that’s where I live,” he said, smiling.