“They want to project the identity of the league, the history of the league… I think we have to stop assuming that this is for the players” - CJ McCollum says a lot of players want to play 82 games in a season, says there’s no plan
Similar to Patrick Beverly a few weeks prior, CJ McCollum took some time out of his offseason to make an appearance on ESPN's 'First Take.' The New Orleans Pelicans guard discussed an array of topics following the second matchup of the NBA Finals.
Every year, the league office tosses around potential ideas to improve the NBA product. The most recent change we've seen is the addition of the play-in tournament to add some juice to the playoffs. Now, another shake-up to the league calendar could be in the works.
Over the past few weeks, there has been chatter about the NBA potentially shortening the regular season. Ironically enough, current and former players have given the most pushback about such a change. During his appearance on ESPN, CJ McCollum gave his thoughts as to why this change isn't just to simply please the guys on the court every night.
"But to say that this rule is appeasing players is blasphemy because there's a lot of players that just wanna play 82 games. They want to protect the identity of the league. History of the league and we have to figure out collectively as a whole what's best for us."
As one of the presidents of the NBA Players Association, CJ McCollum intends to do whatever is best in regards to the players when it comes time to vote on shortening the season.
"Personally, I wanna do what's best to protect the interests of us, whatever that looks like and I'll vote on behalf of players similar to how I have in the past."
.@CJMcCollum didn’t hold back on his first appearance on First Take when discussing the idea of a shortened NBA season. https://t.co/6pcDLA4a5G
Is CJ McCollum right about the concept of a shortned NBA season
CJ McCollum said what's expected from the head of the players association, but some of his points should be challenged a little. While he feels the change is not simply just for the players, an argument can be made otherwise.
In recent years, load management has become a common practice in the NBA. Stars are constantly missing games throughout the year just to have a night off for recovery purposes. That being said, the idea of cutting down on the number of games is the solution to this problem.
Richard Jefferson is not a fan of shortening the NBA season.
"Professional sports is not good on your body. It's supposed to separate the people that can do it from the people that can't do it. ... Part of greatness is longevity." https://t.co/LFYTEGP9fA
Outside of the players, nobody really benefits from fewer games being played. Owners would be coughing up a large sum sacrificing ten games out of the year.
As a player, CJ McCollum has every right to see this change from all sides. However, it is very clear who is being catered to in these discussions.