Former NBA players criticize idea of shortened season

Former NBA players Grant Hill and Richard Jefferson have criticized the idea of a shortened season, encouraging the players to embrace the challenge instead.

After NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s comments earlier this week about not being entirely against shortening the season, former players Grant Hill and Richard Jefferson have criticized the idea of a shortened season. Seven-time all-star Hill and Former NBA Champion Jefferson talked about how durability is a challenge the players should take on throughout the regular season. Over the years in the player-empowerment era, the 82-game regular season has become an increasing talking point due to the injuries and prevalence of “Load-Management”. This season, Ja Morant, Khris Middleton, Devin Booker, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams all missed time in the Playoffs. While the likes of Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, and Chris Paul all played games while being far from 100%. Many teams start load managing their players in the regular season to avoid such injuries in the post-season, sitting them in back-to-back games. 

On potentially shortening the season, Grant Hill said, “You played. There was no resting or workload or any of that. To me, it’s supposed to be hard. Now, we’re going to change marathons because it is so hard to run a marathon. Instead of doing a marathon in a day, we will do it in 25 days because it’s too hard?”

“No, the season is supposed to be hard. And that’s part of the challenge of staying healthy and building some toughness to be in this situation now where you’re in the Playoffs, in the Finals. I reluctantly embrace the workload and all these things we’re doing, but shortening season, no, I have an issue with that,” added Hill.

Hill’s comments came after Richard Jefferson echoed similar sentiments earlier in the week when he said, “It’s absurd, They have done every single thing…Do you want to shorten the season? How much more do we have to make this coddling and all this stuff go with the players? Professional sports are not good for your body. It’s supposed to separate the people who can do it from those who can’t. Part of greatness is longevity.”