NBA commissioner Adam Silver did a hit with the Dan Patrick Show earlier this week in which he was asked about some of the wildest ideas out there to improve the product. Silver offered up he was intrigued by the notion of the NBA going to 10-minute quarters instead of the traditional 12 because people watching on television don't have the longest attention spans. His comments garnered a lot of writeups and discussion, including on Friday morning's Get Up where ESPN insider Brian Windhorst was asked about them.

Windhorst calmly put everything into perspective.

"This is not something they are currently considering," Windhorst said. "There might be a reason why he's floating this, even if it's something that's years down the line. And that's because the NBA is getting more into the interest in global basketball. They are considering creating a European league and if some time in the future the NBA would like to compete against European teams on a level playing field like you see in soccer where teams across different continents play each other, you would need to have a standardized game.

"I don't think it's something happening now," Windhorst continued. "I do think it's a very interesting discussion. I don't think [Silver] was being flippant because I do think he's got long-term plans. But I don't think you're going to see it happen next year or anything like that."

That seems correct. Silver's comments are about the long game. The 48-minute game is ingrained in the NBA's fabric. And while claims that people would like something more if they got less of it is always up for debate, figuring out a way to tap into growing the game globally might be the league's most important endeavor over the next 10 years. The possibility of new markets exploding is very alluring and if it takes changing the timing, then it's a trade worth considering.

Savvy move by Silver to get this out in the public discourse to gauge the reception.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Brian Windhorst Explains Why the NBA Going to 10-Minute Quarters Is Just an Idea.