[The Athletic] Anonymous NBA Player Poll 2025

[Scase]

The most disappointing thing about this survey is the season shortening result. To be expected I guess. You'd think wear and tear would be a little higher on the list than some extra millions.

It's a bit of a leading question. If they asked "Would you support ending the league's gambling partnerships if it meant a reduction in your salary" that answer would probably also be 80% no.

The argument the NBPA would have to make is that it's not a zero-sum game. The league just signed a massive TV deal. The owners could take valuations that go up by like 250% instead of 300%, salary cap raises could stay the same, and in the long term the game would be in a healthier place with more credibility and viewers who aren't all broke from gambling.

Same dudes who (somewhat rightfully) will complain about the unhinged parlay idiots screaming at them in their DMs. Gambling is bad, you know until it means losing tens of millions of dollars if they take it away

[WaltFrazier]

The most disappointing thing about this survey is the season shortening result. To be expected I guess. You'd think wear and tear would be a little higher on the list than some extra millions.

It's a bit of a leading question. If they asked "Would you support ending the league's gambling partnerships if it meant a reduction in your salary" that answer would probably also be 80% no.

The argument the NBPA would have to make is that it's not a zero-sum game. The league just signed a massive TV deal. The owners could take valuations that go up by like 250% instead of 300%, salary cap raises could stay the same, and in the long term the game would be in a healthier place with more credibility and viewers who aren't all broke from gambling.

Agreed that there are ways to mitigate the impact. But there likely isn't a way to make the math work where it comes out on the positive side of the ledger. My own proposal to cut a net 12 games (cut 22 reg season, add 10 playoff style games) in a quantity for quality swap still wouldn't make up the difference.

Mitigation could sway players a bit, but this would be eating into the owners pockets, and they don't actually play the games. You'd need the players to actively demand it in negotiations. All the leagues have done recently is add games (NFL, MLB and NBA), if you don't consider preseason as counting.

The 10 minute quarters idea seems better than 10 fewer games. It should still save wear and tear, but not reduce revenue because still 82 games per team. TV would even prefer it, for scheduling reasons. TV schedule I mean, keeping games to 2 hours ish

[dohboy_24]

LOL... James Johnson with one of the highest vote counts and number of votes ahead of the #2 choice - Isaiah Stewart.