The two main objections to the current length of the NBA season is player health and quality of play. The style of the game has evolved dramatically in the past 25 years, and the NBA should take that into account when deciding what an appropriate number of games should be.

The 3-point shot has completely changed the way we think about basketball. The game is more spread out and players have to cover a greater distance in each game. The result of the game evolving is that players suffer more injuries.

Giving our superstars fewer games will lengthen their careers and allow fans to enjoy their skills for a longer period of time. It will also increase the likelihood that every player will be healthy for the big playoff games. The game has evolved to become more fast paced and players have to cover more ground to contest all the three three-pointers.

NBA expert Bill Simmons gave some of his thoughts on the issue during one of his podcasts.

“I wonder if the guys just play harder from game to game now,” Simmons said. “I was watching [old games] and I was just watching how casually they played defense in the ’80s. They would turn it up in the last six minutes of playoff games, but for the most part you just played offense, kind of half-heartedly jog around guys, maybe in the low post you shove people.

“But you can’t do that in 2015, and everybody plays really hard and you have to run out on shooters all the time, more ground to cover.”

The NBA’s best player, and arguably the greatest player the league has ever seen, weighed in on the issue as well.

“It’s not the minutes, it’s the games,” said LeBron James. “The minutes don’t mean anything. We can play a 50-minute game if we have to. It’s just the games. We all as players think it’s too many games in our season.

“Eighty-two games are a lot. But it’s not the minutes. Taking away minutes from the game isn’t going to shorten it at all. Once you go out and play on the floor, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing 22 minutes … or you play 40 minutes. Once you play, it takes a toll on your body.” 

The main holdup is the money. Players seem to want fewer games but will have to decide whether or not they actually want to sacrifice a hit to the paycheck. Michael Jordan, current NBA owner, responded to LeBron’s opinion on the issue.

“But if that’s what they want to do, we as owners and players can evaluate it and talk about it. But we’d make less money as partners,” he said. “Are they ready to give up money to play fewer games? That’s the question, because you can’t make the same amount of money playing fewer games.”

The players union and the owners will have to sit down and figure out an appropriate solution to this problem.