Mark Cuban's proposal would essentially hand Spurs a championship trophy

It's not every day that former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban makes sense to San Antonio Spurs fans, but today is that day. Recently, the Ringer's Bill Simmons called out the NBA in response to its frankly dumb proposed draft lottery rule changes.

He mentioned that they should solve the root cause of tanking, with him proposing a 72-game season. In turn, Cuban proposed keeping the season at 82 games but limiting them to 40 minutes.

Trimming the length of NBA games to just 40 minutes would be a drastic change, but playing 10 fewer games would be a much bigger change. Both ideas would likely draw plenty of criticism, but how would shortening the length of games impact San Antonio?

Well, star Victor Wembanyama could be more impactful playing fewer minutes. He is already playing around 30 minutes, fewer minutes than most stars.

Shortening games could make Victor Wembanyama more dominant

If the NBA were to change the length of games, he could still play for around 28–30 minutes. That means he'd be playing an increasing majority of the game.

In that scenario, he would play 70% to 75% of the game, compared to the approximately 62.5% he plays now. Having him play a larger share of games without actually increasing his minutes means he'd have a bigger impact.

In the playoffs, that could be an even bigger advantage with him being able to play most of the game if need be. Of course, the same could be said for other stars, but Wembanyama's net rating proves his impact is far greater than other elite players.

The NBA has experimented with shorter games in the NBA G League and the preseason, so it's not unprecedented. In fact, FIBA plays 40-minute games, and the league could spin it as moving the game closer to a FIBA style of play.

Should the NBA shorten games, and how would it affect the Spurs?

Cuban's proposal could solve the problem of load management with teams playing their players four or five minutes less per game than they are currently. But it could also cause other potential issues.

For instance, it may lead to starters being valued more and bench players being valued less. For example, Keldon Johnson might average just 19 minutes per game and earn only around $15 million annually on his next contract.

It would also make balancing the minutes of De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle harder. However, shorter games would likely benefit younger teams more since they can more easily play most of the game.

The Spurs are obviously young and would have a clear advantage with their young core. It might not be a basketball purist's favorite idea, but it would definitely help San Antonio.