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As Silver detailed even further, the league’s internal data suggests that extended rest might be part of the problem rather than the solution. “On so-called load management, I think that the only place where we see an uptick in injuries is not towards the end of the season when guys have played more games,” Silver continued. “The only place we see upticks is after the All-Star break. … Whether it’s just correlation, or it turns out there’s causation, it may be because (players) are not getting appropriate load during those days they take off.
Two of the sources said that if Silver tried to administer punishment to the Clippers without clear evidence of guilt, other teams and owners could consider it a worrying precedent. "I respect Adam, and I don't think he's stupid," said one of the sources, who has worked closely with Silver through the years. "If Wachtell delivers the report that says, 'Well, we don't have it,' I don't think Adam is going to push it further."
To that, Silver felt it was important to make the distinction between embellishing contact to draw a foul, a genuine part of the game, and actually deceiving the officials. “Even as I sit in the stands at games, players may be falling down, players may be reacting to a call,” Silver said. “But to me, if they’re not fooling the referees, it’s OK. Players are taught to sell calls these days.” Silver agreed the league is “always working on that,” in reference to officiating improving, but he doesn’t see it as a pressing issue and called the league’s officiating “incredible.”
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.
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I had been warned, when talking with his contemporaries, that Silver is kept in bubble wrap. Now I witnessed it up close. Silver’s longtime flack, Mike Bass, was refusing to answer my texts—we stood 50 feet apart, separated by the VIP rope, as he stared at his phone—asking for an introduction. Meanwhile, officials from three separate teams, whom I’d planned to meet in Nashville, had all canceled. It seemed like a coordinated snubbing. Which left me no choice: When Silver wandered within reach, I slipped the rope and thrust an open hand in his direction. The commissioner, who is six-foot-three and wears a clean-shaven head, studied my name tag—the atlantic—and then spun toward Bass, who looked exasperated. Silver’s complexion turned colorless, almost ethereal, as he shook my hand. I assured him that there was nothing to fear, that I’d tracked him to Tennessee because I wanted a proper interview. “That’s up to Mike,” Silver said, glancing at his spokesman. “C’mon,” I replied with a grin. “You’re the commissioner.” Silver was expressionless. “Sorry, it’s not my call,” he said. Then Bass hustled him away.
The whole thing felt a bit pathetic. As a sports junkie, I’d always imagined commissioners as party bosses: indomitable, shank-wielding enforcers who win by any means necessary. Silver is not that guy. He is warm and dignified, a people pleaser who thinks in terms of negotiations and partners, not arguments and adversaries. He’s also an anxiety case, a born worrier who lives with constant apprehension about dangers to his league and its legitimacy. Silver is right to worry. Professional basketball has entered a moment of institutional crisis. The commissioner is confronting urgent, headline-grabbing allegations of corrupt ownership and betting scandals and teams intentionally losing games. He is also confronting broader critiques of the sport’s very soul: a lack of rivalries, a lack of competition, and, just over the horizon, a lack of homegrown superstars. This would be daunting for any commissioner—much less one who dreads confrontation.
“So, [NBA Europe] would be a standalone league,” Silver said. “But, I would just say over time… There’s a company called ‘Boom’ that is saying by 2030 they’re going to have supersonic jets.” “Because travel is a big concern,” Carton said, to which Silver agreed. “Long term, I could definitely imagine we could have a division in Europe,” Silver explained. “And, obviously, this is a very global game.”
Silver has navigated turbulent waters before. In 2014, after tapes surfaced of then Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist comments, Silver, less than three months into his tenure as commissioner, banned Sterling for life. In 2020, the NBA was the first major sports league to shut down operations during the COVID-19 pandemic … and the first Big Four league to find a way back, re-opening in the Florida bubble in July. He has negotiated two labor agreements, dealt swiftly with threats to game integrity and signed the most lucrative broadcast agreement in NBA history. Says one longtime team executive, “Adam is one of the best commissioners in history. Not basketball history. Sports history.”
The next few months could test that opinion. Silver must find tweaks for a draft lottery system that has failed to discourage tanking. He must adjudicate a Clippers investigation that has rivals screaming for blood. And he must find a solution to injury issues that have plagued the regular season. It is, says one high-ranking team executive, “an opportunity.” While the ink is still wet on the 11-year, $77 billion broadcast rights deal that kicked in this season, it’s never too early to think about the next one. “Getting this stuff right is his legacy,” says the exec. Adds another, “This summer Adam is going to be very busy.”
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The site Berkley pitched is a 20-acre plot located near City Hall, by the World Market Center that is owned by asset manager Blackstone. “It’s near a freeway, it won’t be as congested (as) on the Strip,” Berkley said. “It’s an alternative that they may want to examine, and I’m not sure that anybody has proposed it yet.” Berkley also wants to use the meeting to get to know Silver, whom she has yet to meet. She plans to invite Silver to her office the next time he visits Southern Nevada. Berkley said she comes from a basketball family; her father used to play pick-up basketball with NBA legend Bob Cousy in upstate New York when she was a child.
When asked about Silver’s comments from Wednesday afternoon, Rivers suggested that the league’s looking into an injury is just normal operating procedure. “I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Rivers said. “Maybe you don’t know this, but they look into every injury. This is nothing new. Probably because it’s been talked about, (Silver) felt the need to say something, but I’ve not been on a team where, when you have injuries, they don’t look at it. So, I don’t think it’s anything new.”
