NBPA President CJ McCollum Says He'd Vote Against 58-Game Season; Open to 72 Games

Following recent comments from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver that the league would consider shortening its regular season, the president of the National Basketball Players Association outlined a scenario in which he would consider voting in favor of reducing the current 82-game schedule.

Appearing on ESPN's First Take (starts at 3:15 mark), CJ McCollum of the New Orleans Pelicans said he wouldn't vote for a 58-game schedule, but he would be open to 72 games "if it made sense" for the majority of players.

Silver has spoken about wanting to implement an in-season tournament for several years. It remains to be seen if it will happen, though ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Christmas Day there was "renewed momentum" for the event.

According to Wojnarowski, the NBA and NBPA discussed elements of the tournament that could become part of the league calendar as soon as the 2022-23 or 2023-24 season.

The format would begin with pool play, followed by the teams with the best records advancing to an eight-team single-elimination tournament that would be finished before Christmas.

The proposal would also reduce the schedule from 82 to 78 games. McCollum did mention a 58-game season, though there's no indication from anyone in the NBA offices that has been considered.

It was floated by Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey during an appearance on Colin Cowherd's radio show in February.

Morey said, explaining how the season would work:

"Every team plays every team two times. The playoffs—I 100 percent agree. Shorter is better. I would have it one-and-done. There’s a reason everyone tunes into every game at huge ratings in the NFL. It is literally one-and-done. And the NCAA tournament, in 63 games [it’s actually 67], gets more money than we do in our entire regular season."

The idea of shortening the regular season is to reduce the risk of injuries and, potentially, limit the number of games that superstar players sit out for load management.

Of course, any change to the schedule would impact league revenues. If the league is making less money with a shorter regular season, the salary cap goes down and player salaries decrease.

Players would have to factor that into their decision-making process if there were any vote from the union on cutting the regular season from 82 games.

McCollum admitting he would be open to a change if it made sense for the NBPA is interesting, but there are a lot of factors that would have to be considered before any vote happens.