Why it won’t work
The NBA’s solutions to their ratings problem, most likely, won’t show much promise.
To begin with, none of the proposed solutions looks to solve any of the league’s problems. The listed problems were as such: lack of competition (possibly), lack of superstar teams, lack of superstars and cord-cutting. Let’s go over each proposed solution.
First, shortening the season to 78 games. At first, there’s a thought that this might help with the superstars and superstar teams issue. A shorter season means less wear and tear on the body and a lower rate of injury. However, this might not be as beneficial to stars as we think it would be.
Looking at three players over the course of the decade who were known for load management (Kawhi Leonard in 2018-19, Tim Duncan over the 2013-14 season and Stephen Curry in the 2015-16 season) and averaged out their minutes. Over the course of the season, the three players averaged a total of 2,300 minutes, or otherwise just under 48 whole games in the season.
Of course, players don’t play whole games and together those three players averaged a total of just 71 games, seven games less than the league’s proposed minimum.
However, with this minimum the league would almost certainly add a new rule strictly limiting load management, which could lead to even more or bigger injuries in the future.