Rumors

Adam silver is one of America’s most powerful men. Part businessman and part diplomat, he leads a multibillion-dollar international conglomerate and exercises soft power across continents. But on the day we met, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association appeared aimless, drifting awkwardly through the roped-off VIP area of a sports-business conference in Nashville. Silver had just concluded a keynote session. Unlike other headliners, such as Major League Baseball’s Rob Manfred and the Southeastern Conference’s Greg Sankey, who’d been interviewed onstage by journalists, Silver had been joined in conversation by his friend Bob Myers, a former Golden State Warriors executive, who opened by congratulating Silver on his decency, integrity, and “moral compass.” The commissioner is carefully stage-managed. Media engagements are rare; rarer still are the probing questions that might be asked of someone leading a business valued at roughly $200 billion. Early last year, I’d approached the NBA about a profile—not just of Silver but of the game itself, a holistic look at the evolution of professional basketball. The answer: a hard no. Hence the trip to Nashville.

The Atlantic

New additions to the board are NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars, Duke athletic director Nina King, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey, NCAA vice president of women’s basketball Lynn Holzman, NJCAA president and CEO Christopher Parker, four-time Olympic gold medalist Sylvia Fowles, two-time Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Whalen and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Shareef Abdur-Raheem.

Washington Post