Ernie Johnson wants fewer NBA games as injuries pile up

November 2, 2026

Ernie Johnson likes the NBA’s talent. But like the rest of us, he’d like a better chance of seeing it on the floor.

With multiple top names already sidelined early in the season, the longtime Inside the NBA host believes the league should consider trimming its 82-game schedule.

“If I were gonna do one thing, maybe I would reduce the schedule by a few games, so it’s not 82,” Johnson told Front Office Sports’ Baker Machado, as Ryan Glasspiegel reported.

“Here we are a week into the season and there’s so many stars who are out right now. That’s the concern. It’s like, OK, so Anthony Edwards isn’t gonna play for a while. OK, so Kawhi Leonard’s out for a while. Look what happened in OKC.”

The Thunder offer a particularly rough example. Ahead of Monday’s visit to the Cavaliers, they listed Alex Caruso, Chet Holmgren, Thomas Sorber, Nikola Topic, Cason Wallace and Jalen Williams as out.

Johnson didn’t propose a specific number of games. His concern is the physical toll of the schedule and how much of the league’s best basketball fans miss when stars are unavailable.

“Injuries are gonna happen, but part of it’s like, you know, the wear and tear on these guys, maybe you need to reduce that a little bit,” Johnson said. “The talent you see in the league has never been higher. … Just in terms of watching the guys at the height of their powers, I love the product.”

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Johnson also addressed a different change coming to NBA television. This is his final season hosting Inside the NBA, but he hopes the program continues after his departure.

“Sure, there could always be Inside the NBA. It would be different,” he said. “What I would hope is that as the years go by, it doesn’t have to be the exact same show. It can just morph into something else.”

He described the move to ESPN and ABC as “seamless,” crediting the networks with allowing the show to retain its crew, Atlanta studio and approach.

“They’ve let our show continue the way we do it,” Johnson said. “It’s us continuing to do the show in Atlanta’s Studio J. It’s just, the logo is different.”