NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday that he likes the idea of shortening games to 40 minutes by going from 12-minute quarters to 10.

"As we get more involved in global basketball, the NBA is the only league that plays 48 minutes. And I would be -- I am -- a fan of four 10-minute quarters," Silver said during an afternoon appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show." "I'm not sure that many others are. Putting aside what it means for records and things like that, yeah, I think that a two-hour format for a game is more consistent with modern television habits."

NBA games this season have run 2 hours, 16 minutes on average, nearly identical to the past 15 seasons (2:15, according to data from ESPN Research).

"I think of a television program being two hours, Olympic basketball being two hours. And college basketball, of course, is 40 minutes," Silver told Patrick.

Silver's remark came in response to Patrick's question about something league officials have discussed potentially changing in the future. Silver also said that awarding two free throws to shooters who are fouled on 3-point attempts has been mentioned in conversations.

Altering the length of the game -- which, at 48 minutes, has been the same throughout the league's 78-year history -- could have a drastic impact on the sport in ways big and small.

"I hope we don't become Barnum & Bailey, or do whatever we have to do to keep viewership. Because there's a greatness and a history to this game, and a purity to this game that I hope we can find a way to stay true to."

Nuggets coach Michael Malone

A number of single-game and single-season records probably would become untouchable, and a number of the league's stars could credibly play entire games more frequently. (Mikal Bridges of the New York Knicks currently leads the NBA in playing time, averaging 38.4 minutes.)

Even if players couldn't go the distance, their ability to play a greater percentage of the game's minutes could have a cascading effect on how much role and end-of-bench players are paid, as they would hold less significance on a team's roster with less needed from them.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau and Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone, whose teams squared off Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, both expressed their dislike of any potential changes.

"I'm more of a traditional guy, so I'd hate to see that," Thibodeau said, citing how shortening the game would hinder the ability to break leaguewide records.

Malone said he respected the NBA's willingness to pay attention to viewership trends. But he also said there was a risk to going too far to cater to them.

"I give the league credit, because they're always trying to find ways to keep the fans engaged," he said. "But I hope we don't go to 10-minute quarters. I hope we don't put in a 4-point line. I hope we don't become Barnum & Bailey, or do whatever we have to do to keep viewership. Because there's a greatness and a history to this game, and a purity to this game that I hope we can find a way to stay true to."

ESPN Research's Matt Williams contributed to this report.

SAN ANTONIO -- Victor Wembanyama has had enough.

The San Antonio star charged after Ivica Zubac after the LA center shoved him to the court during the Clippers' 128-116 victory over the Spurs on Wednesday night.

The frustration with what Wembanyama preceives as a lack of calls, and respect, from officials boiled over late in the third quarter -- and during his postgame news conference.

"So ... it's not even about Zubac," Wembanyama said. "It's just frustration, no matter who it was."

When asked if he believes he gets a fair whistle from officials, Wembanyama curtly said, "No."

The shove from Zubac was just the latest overt physicality Wembanyama has had to deal with.

Zubac yelled at the officials earlier in the third quarter for not calling a foul on Harrison Barnes after the Spurs' forward blocked his layup. The frustration boiled over when Wembanyama blocked Zubac's attempted dunk with 4:49 left in the third quarter and no foul was called.

Zubac flailed his arms in frustration and was late defensively, watching as Barnes tossed in a 3-pointer that cut the Clippers lead to 85-78. Still, Zubac rushed into the paint as the shot was up and gave a hard hip check and elbow to Wembanyama's back, sending him flying to the baseline.

Wembanyama gathered himself and charged at Zubac but was held back by the Spurs' coaching staff and players, who had filed onto the court as Clippers coach Ty Lue called a timeout immediately after Barnes' 3-pointer.

"I reacted a little," Zubac said. "I thought I got fouled [on the previous play]. I was mad at the refs. So, then I was late [on Harrison Barnes' 3-point shot]. I saw it going up. I saw Wemby crashing, so I knew I had to box him out. I bumped him a little harder. I let emotions take over a little bit, but I apologized to him. That's not the way I want to be on the court and compete."

Zubac finished with 21 points and 22 rebounds. Wembanyama had 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Despite Zubac's shove, no foul was called. Officials also did not call a technical foul on Wembanyama and, after a brief discussion, did not review the play.

The lack of a call angered Wembanyama and the Spurs.

"I thought there was a few plays that should have been taken care of a little bit earlier," San Antonio acting head coach Mitch Johnson said. "You'll get reactions like that. It's probably surprising he hasn't reacted like that earlier, to be honest. He gets a lot of contact, and at some point he's going to have to continue to protect himself if the people controlling the game, supposedly, are not going to do that."

It's something Wembanyama said he has had to deal with as teams attempt to limit his ability to shoot 3-pointers and dribble like a guard by leaning against and pushing his 235-pound frame.

"So it's a hard thing to fight, because it feels unfair sometimes," Wembanyama said. "But, of course, we talk about it with the staff and there is some stuff I have to do to help myself. First of all, being strong and not bailing out shots, but also there is some work to do. Talking to the refs, of course, explaining myself. But for me, it doesn't feel like it's something I should influence. I'm a basketball player, I'm here to play, and yeah, this is why it's frustrating. It's not my job to do politics."

Closer Carlos Estévez and Kansas City are in agreement on a two-year, $22.2 million contract with a club option, sources told ESPN on Wednesday, adding a veteran reliever to a Royals team hoping to continue its run of success after a surprise postseason appearance last year.

The deal will pay Estévez $10.1 million in each of the first two years, with the club option worth $13 million and a $2 million buyout.

Estévez, 32, has spent the past two seasons as a closer -- first for the Los Angeles Angels and then, following a July trade, the Philadelphia Phillies -- with a high-octane fastball and a swing-and-miss slider and changeup. While his strikeout rate dipped last year, his walks came down significantly as well and unleashed the best version of him.

With a weak bullpen in the first half of last season, Kansas City upgraded at the trade deadline by acquiring right-hander Lucas Erceg -- who became a dominant closer down the stretch -- and right-hander Hunter Harvey, who missed the postseason with injuries. Estévez's presence alongside Erceg gives Kansas City a potent one-two punch in the late innings to complement one of the American League's best rotations.

Coming off a 106-loss season, the Royals improved by 30 games and beat the Baltimore Orioles in the wild-card round before losing to the eventual American League champion New York Yankees. Kansas City re-signed starter Michael Wacha and traded for second baseman Jonathan India early in the winter, then re-signed right-hander Michael Lorenzen.

Estévez enriches a bullpen that includes right-handers Erceg, Harvey and John Schreiber and a panoply of left-handers: Angel Zerpa, Sam Long, Daniel Lynch and potentially Kris Bubic, who is expected to compete with Lorenzen and right-hander Kyle Wright for Kansas City's fifth starter job.

After spending six seasons in Colorado, Estévez signed a two-year, $13.5 million deal with the Angels and ascended into the closer role. Since signing with Los Angeles, he has saved 57 games and struck out 128 while walking 43 in 117 innings with a 3.22 ERA.

The Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday acquired left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers in a trade with the San Francisco Giants for minor league reliever Braxton Roxby, continuing additions in hopes of contending in the National League Central under new manager Terry Francona.

Rogers, 34, has closing experience and could slide into that role for the Reds or join a committee with incumbent closer Alexis Diaz. He excelled for the Giants last season, posting a 2.40 ERA in 60 innings while striking out 64 and walking 20, but San Francisco had sought in recent weeks to move payroll, according to sources, and did so by sending Rogers and his $12 million salary to Cincinnati.

After trading right-hander Fernando Cruz and losing right-hander Buck Farmer to free agency, the Reds sought bullpen depth and found it in Rogers, whose sinker-slider combination has buoyed him over his nine-year career.

The Reds will be Rogers' fifth team after starting his career with Minnesota, moving to San Diego in a trade for Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagan, going to Milwaukee three months later in the Josh Hader deal and signing a three-year, $33 million free agent deal with San Francisco before the 2023 season.

While it's unclear what the Giants will do with their newfound payroll flexibility, they're in the midst of an overhaul after new president of baseball operations Buster Posey took over from Farhan Zaidi. San Francisco gave shortstop Willy Adames a seven-year, $182 million contract in early December and followed in mid-January with a one-year, $15 million deal for right-hander Justin Verlander.

Roxby, 25, was signed by Cincinnati as an undrafted free agent and thrived in his first minor league season in 2021, striking out 61 in 39 innings. He spent most of 2022 and 2023 at High-A and struggled in Double-A last year, going 0-4 with a 5.21 ERA, though he still struck out 65 batters in 48 innings.

Cincinnati continues to add to a team that finished 77-85 and fired manager David Bell, replacing him with Francona, a future Hall of Famer who came out of retirement. In addition to deal for Rogers, the Reds retained right-hander Nick Martinez and left-hander Brent Suter, acquired super-utility man Gavin Lux, right-handed starter Brady Singer and catcher Jose Trevino in trades, and signed outfielder Austin Hays to a one-year, $5 million deal and left-handed veteran Wade Miley to a minor league contract.

In a corresponding move, the Reds designated right-hander Owen White for assignment.

The US Open will become a 15-day tournament in 2025, beginning on a weekend for the first time in the Open era.

This year's main draw at Flushing Meadows will start on Sunday, 24 August and end on Sunday, 7 September.

It becomes the latest Grand Slam to announce a Sunday start. The Australian Open expanded to a 15-day tournament in 2024, after the French Open took that decision in 2006.

That leaves Wimbledon as the only remaining Slam event to retain the traditional Monday start.

In making the change, the US Open said the move would allow "more fan access than ever to the main draw following three consecutive years of record-breaking attendance".

The tournament estimates the expansion will allow access for an additional 70,000 spectators.

Men's and women's singles first-round matches will be played across the opening three days in New York, from Sunday to Tuesday.

The Australian Open took the decision to become a 15-day event in an attempt to reduce the number of late-night finishes at Melbourne Park.

United States international Ricardo Pepi scored for PSV Eindhoven as they beat Liverpool 3-2 and spoiled Liverpool's 100% record in the Champions League. However, Arne Slot's side have still finished top of the group stage.

A much-changed Liverpool, bidding to make it eight wins from eight, led twice in the Netherlands through Cody Gakpo's penalty against his old club and Harvey Elliott.

Johan Bakayoko equalised for PSV and goals by Ismael Saibari and Pepi completed a comeback win for the hosts.

Liverpool ended with 10 men after substitute Amara Nallo was shown a straight red card for an 87th-minute foul.

Liverpool topped the group stage with 21 points, two ahead of Barcelona who could only draw their last game.

Europa League champions Atalanta missed out on an automatic place in the Champions League last 16 with a 2-2 draw at Barcelona on Wednesday, with Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo scoring for the already-qualified hosts.

Atalanta, who were missing one of their top strikers Ademola Lookman because of a knee injury, slipped down to ninth in the standings on 15 points and will play in the two-legged knockout phase playoff round instead.

Five-time winners Barcelona, who last lifted the trophy in 2015, had already secured their last-16 berth last week through a dramatic 5-4 comeback win at Benfica.

Yamal gave Barcelona the lead two minutes after the break from point-blank range before Ederson levelled for Atalanta in the 67th minute with a stunning shot from the edge of the area that sailed inside the left post.

Defender Araujo restored the lead for Barca with a header following a corner in the 72nd but Atalanta's Mario Pasalic equalised again seven minutes later, nutmegging goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with a low strike.

Atalanta, who had to measure themselves against teams such as Arsenal and Real Madrid in the competition's new league phase, will know their playoff rivals in the draw on Friday, with the games being played on Feb. 11-12 and Feb. 18-19.

Utah Hockey Club will not be moving forward with "Yeti" or "Yetis" as its team nickname and will hold an in-arena fan vote to pick a new one.

The team expects to announce a permanent name and identity before the 2025-26 NHL season. The new fan vote comes after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected names and logos that Utah Hockey Club had submitted for approval, in particular "Utah Yetis," which was widely assumed to be the franchise's eventual nickname.

Fans attending Utah's next four home games will have the opportunity to vote for three options using tablets stationed around Delta Center. The team estimates that could be upward of 15,000 fans per game.

The name options are:

Utah Hockey Club. The team's current name was meant as a placeholder for its inaugural season in Salt Lake City, after Smith Entertainment Group purchased the Arizona Coyotes franchise. "It has always been our intention to let our season one identity as Utah Hockey Club, the team's performance, and the amazing response from our fans hold the conversation through our inaugural season," said Chris Armstrong, the team's president of hockey operations.

Utah Mammoth. This nickname was one of six finalists from a fan vote held last year, along with Utah Blizzard, Utah Hockey Club, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom and Utah Yeti. Team owner Ryan Smith later revealed on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" that Mammoth had made the final four options.

Utah Wasatch. This is an entirely new option for Utah's team name, as it wasn't included in the initial 20 names presented to fans in a survey. It references the Wasatch mountain range in Utah, known for its many ski resorts. But the team acknowledges that it's basically a replacement for "Utah Yeti." The name will allow the team to use a "mythical snow creature in the form of a Yeti" as its mascot, according to Mike Maughan of Smith Entertainment Group.

The fans will vote on these three names and two logos: One for the Utah Mammoth and one that would be used for either the Utah Hockey Club or the Utah Wasatch that features the Yeti-like creature, which Maughan said is known as the "mountain defender" logo internally.

This might not be the last fan vote, according to Maughan, who said there could be another round after this. But he reiterated that whatever the fans decide in these votes will be the name of the Utah team beginning next season.

Maughan said the team submitted all 20 names on its initial survey to the USPTO. But the biggest refusal was for "Yeti" or "Yetis." It was widely expected, even among Utah players, that "Yeti" or "Yetis" would eventually win out as the team name.

The USPTO rejected a trademark application from the team for "Utah Yetis" because of the "likelihood of confusion" for consumers to other companies and brands that use the name. Utah Hockey Club was seeking to use "Utah Yetis" on a variety of clothing items. The USPTO said a database search turned up "a number of third-party marks registered for use in connection with the same or similar goods and/or services as those of both applicant and registrant in this case."

Among those parties was Yeti Coolers LLC, which makes drinkware, coolers and clothing.

"We engaged deeply with Yeti Cooler Company and worked with them over a process to see if there was some coexistence agreement that we could engage with them on," said Maughan. "They have a unique and strong trademark on anything published Yeti or Yetis. We did not have a coexistence agreement with Yeti and therefore have decided to move on from that name."

Maughan said the team anticipated trademark hurdles for Yeti and other names -- including Utah Hockey Club, which also was rejected but faces less of a barrier to future approval -- and thus anticipated the need to pivot. He said the team is confident the three names in the fan vote should clear the USPTO process.

"We have an incredible team, and we are very confident we have a clear path to each of those names," he said. "We have strategies to approach each of them and feel that we're on very solid ground as we continue forward."

Fan voting on the new name will begin during Tuesday night's game against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.

Utah Hockey Club is in its first season playing in Salt Lake City. The Arizona Coyotes franchise was sold to Utah Jazz owners Smith Entertainment Group in April 2024. SEG acquired the franchise, its players and its hockey operations department in the sale, although the team is considered a new franchise rather than an extension of the Coyotes' legacy.

Manchester City scraped through to the playoff knockout round of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Club Brugge at Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.

The result means Pep Guardiola maintains his record of progressing from the opening stage of the competition in every year of his managerial career.

City dominated possession in the first half but failed to create any clear-cut chances, though Ilkay Gündogan did put the ball in the net from an offside position.

They were stung in the half's closing moments as Brugge counterattacked and Raphael Onyedika finished calmly after some excellent work from Ferran Jutglà on the left wing.

Guardiola's side forced the issue in the second half, with Mateo Kovacic giving his side hope in the 53rd minute with a great solo run through the Brugge midfield and a fine finish, before tricky work from Savinho saw Josko Gvardiol find space on the left-hand side of the box, with his ball in deflecting off Joel Ordóñez and into the net.

Savinho, who came off the bench to spark the comeback, then scored himself in the 77th minute to seal the result.

City's campaign in Europe this season has seen a number of uncharacteristic collapses, beginning with a 4-1 humbling away to Sporting CP -- then coached by now-Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim.

They then threw a three-goal lead away at home to Feyenoord, fell to a 2-0 defeat at Juventus and conceded four against Paris Saint-Germain last Wednesday to put their hopes of progressing in doubt.

However, the win against Brugge means their resurgence continues, with a two-legged playoff tie to come against an opponent to be decided on Friday.

Elsewhere, Liverpool finished atop the league phase table despite losing 3-2 to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday as second-placed Barcelona were held at home against Atalanta.

Arsenal and Aston Villa both won to finish in the top eight and secure direct progress to the round of 16, as did Atlético Madrid. Lautaro Martínez scored a hat trick for Inter Milan as they thrashed AS Monaco.

Real Madrid and Bayern Munich won their final games against Brest and Slovan Bratislava, respectively, but face the same fate as City in the playoffs having made slow starts to their continental seasons.