“Utter woke nonsense” – Fans on Reddit perplexed by NBA, WNBA bringing major change to shot clock from next year 

The NBA and WNBA will be introducing a major change in its games starting next season. The two basketball leagues will be incorporating rounded LED shot clocks, going away from the usual square shape, which has been in the league since the shot clocks were introduced in April 1954.

The implementation of the new shot clock shape will debut at this year’s NBA All-Star game in San Francisco before being part of the regular games starting the 2025-26 NBA season and the 2025 WNBA regular season.

However, fans on Reddit are skeptical about the idea, saying that it does not make sense for the league to change something that is not broken.

“Utter woke nonsense fr,” one fan said.

“What happened to the game I love,” another fan said.

“The Gulf of How Does This Improve Ratings?,” one fan wrote.

Meanwhile, other fans accepted the new change coming to the leagues, saying ideas that could have been why such change happened.

“It must be happening to resemble a tissot watch but it will be very weird, trying to get used to it…,” a fan wrote.

“Gotta be because it now looks like the sponsors products,” one fan said.

“i mean yea the shape is odd and may take a while to get used to but the big problem here is how thick the black parts are. if they could have made the whole thing transparent then this would be fine,” another fan said.

According to Sports Business Journal’s Tom Friend, the NBA, which also finances the WNBA, approached Tissot, its official timekeeper, to build a new round 24-second shot clock, replacing the traditional shape that fans have been accustomed to seeing for over 70 years.

The shot clocks will also have the digit sizes as when it was shaped square in both leagues. The clock will also be used in G-League games starting the 2025-26 season.

How the NBA’s addition of the shot clock seven decades ago grew the sport

The NBA was struggling to lure fans before adding the 24-second shot clock. Players then just passed the ball to preserve leads, limiting game-scoring opportunities.

The NBA then adopted the 24-second shot clock in 1954, pioneering the rule, which was also adopted by FIBA two years later with their 30-second version.

Meanwhile, the WNBA also started with a 30-second shot clock before changing it to the traditional 24-second version in 2006.

Teams who fail to shoot within the 24 seconds allotted in every possession will result in a turnover. Since its inception, the shot clock changed how the games were played as it added more possessions, resulting in higher scores and back-and-forth affairs up until today.

Edited by Kim Daniel Rubinos