Michael Jordan Surprised By ‘Shorter Season’ Suggestion From LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki; NBA Fans Have Mixed Reactions

Michael Jordan was surprised by some of the National Basketball Association stars’ opinion, particularly that of LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dirk Nowitzki, that the 82-game grind in the league is too much.

"I love both of those guys, but as an owner who played the game, I loved playing,'' Jordan stated via ESPN.COM. “If I wasn't playing 82 games, I still would've been playing somewhere else because that's the love for the game I had. As a player, I never thought 82 games was an issue.”

Indeed, 82 games per season was never an issue for Jordan, who is considered by most as the greater basketball player of all time in the history of the league.

Jordan played a total of 1072 regular season games in his storied NBA career. Not counting the games with the Washington Wizards (2001-2002 and 2002-2003), when he semi-retired (1993-1994 and 1994-1995) and an injury-plagued season (1985-1986), Jordan has always played 81 or 82 games per year except once when he played 78 outings in 1992-1993.

Like Jordan, some NBA fans on Twitter were surprised of the shorter season talk and some even disappointed that the likes of LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki were willing to change the NBA tradition:

This new generation of #nba players complain to much , man talking about shorter season wtf

— Deno (TheyKnow) (@TheyKnowDeno) October 16, 2014

NBA players want a shorter season? WTF why? Quit bitching. — Jordan® (@jdub2324) October 16, 2014

All this talk of a shorter @NBA season or shorter games is pretty much pointless.

— Bring Back The Buzz™ (@BringBackTheBuz) October 16, 2014

Yet other NBA fans agrees with LeBron and Dirk, both of whom opined that the NBA is playing too many games in the regular season.

a shorter NBA season would be on of the best ideas ever! 52 games spread throughout the same time frame as a 82 game season. — B-Moe (@bmoe_careful) October 16, 2014

Shorter season in the nba will only make the competition better and players healthier. Honestly I dont see no disadvantage.

— Freddy Bitondo (@TheRealDyffre) October 16, 2014

The recent issue has been brought about by the NBA’s experimental move to drop the game time from 48 minutes to 44 minutes in Sunday’s preseason match-up between the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics.

“At our recent coaches' meeting, we had a discussion about the length of our games, and it was suggested that we consider experimenting with a shorter format,” Rond Thorn, NBA’s president of basketball operations said in an official statement. “After consulting with our Competition Committee, we agreed to allow the Nets and Celtics to play a 44-minute preseason game in order to give us some preliminary data that will help us to further analyze game-time lengths.”

LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki wants the NBA not only to cut minimal minutes but also entire full games to shorten the season. But for Michael Jordan, both ideas hurt not only the game but possibly, also the players’ wallets.

“Are they ready to give up money to play fewer games? That's the question, because you can't make the same amount of money playing fewer games,’’ Jordan, who is the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, asked in the same interview.

Should the NBA follow Lebron James' and Dirk Nowitzki's suggestion of cutting down the number of regular season games? Or is Michael Jordan correct in this issue?