The NBA seems to be working overtime to reduce the workload on its players and the league is now thought to be targeting overtime in an effort to make professional basketball even less demanding.
According to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, the NBA could make a change to the format to the extra period at the end of tied games that would see a target score put in place instead of the extra five minutes.
This comes on the back of the double-overtime contest between the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers in which the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George rack up over 40 minutes of action.
The NBA has already experimented with a target score, which is the way it’s gone about deciding the winner of its annual All-Star Game.
“A potential change could be the use of a target score, but just for overtime,” Pincus wrote. “That would prevent overlong broadcasts and overloading player minutes, like Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard’s playing 46 minutes in a double-overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday.”
An overtime target score would eliminate the need for players to exert themselves for an unknown period, as games have gone up to as many as four overtimes in recent NBA history. The league also hosted a game that needed six overtime periods to be decided back in 1951.
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The reaction from fans hasn’t been positive.
“Why?! It was one of the greatest games of all time!” one fan wrote on Twitter in response.
Another tweeted: “That game was fun! Let’s prevent it from happening again.’”
The NBA is already experiencing a decline in fan support, with this year’s All-Star game providing an indication. Making changes to the overtime format might not do them any favors.
