The NBA regular season schedule has been 82 games before you were born. For many years, it’s never been an issue until recently.
Your reasoning could be that players today are soft and spoiled or you could take the more logical route by acknowledge that today’s athlete takes better care of their body.
Sure, you can play all 82 games if you want to, but the odds of your body breaking down when it matters most becomes more likely. Teams will look to play chess like the Raptors did with Kawhi Leonard.
Load management is a thing now and it’s not going anywhere unless the league shortens the schedule.
According to ESPN, the number of games to potentially be reduced varied widely from just a few to trimming the season to 58 games — which would ensure each team could host the other 29 at least once. Though different options were discussed on the call, ESPN reports team officials weren’t in favor of a major reduction of games.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also likes the idea of an in-season tournament and a postseason play-in tournament.