ADAM SILVER: Thank you all for being here, particularly for the media members who traveled internationally to be here for these All-Star events, and a huge thank you to the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. Governor Holcomb and Mayor Hogsett have been a pleasure to work with.
This has probably been the longest All-Star from announcement to execution in our history because, as you all recall, we announced this All-Star Game in 2017. The game was supposed to take place here in 2021, was canceled because of the pandemic, and here we are in 2024. So a long time coming and planning.
But they've done a fantastic job here. City and state have worked together in a first-class manner, and we're thrilled to be in this community and so supported by the Pacers' organization.
Speaking of the Pacers, first of all, I want to congratulate Rick Fuson, the CEO of the Pacers' organization, on 40 years of service to this community and to this team. He claims he's going to step down at the end of the season. He mentioned to me the other day that, "I'm actually stepping down Monday morning once we get through this," but I think he owes a few more months of work before he leaves. But Rick has become a close friend over the years -- there he is. I see him back there. I don't know if there's a camera that can focus on him. But thank you for everything, Rick.
In addition, to Herb Simon and his son Steve, who I see back there, Herb is not only the longest-tenured governor at the NBA right now at 41 years, but he's the longest-tenured governor in the history of the NBA. And at least in my roughly now 32 years that I've been at the NBA, he's served in every imaginable position, including chairman of the board. He continues to serve on our executive committee. He's been involved in bargaining and revenue sharing, every possible issue at the league. He's just been a great friend and a supporter of the league and a true partner to all the other governors and to teams around the league.
So I want to thank him and also congratulate him, as well. It's just an amazing career he's had off the court, as we say, as well. He's been a wonderful host.
Just a few other things from me and then happy to answer any of your questions.
I think we often hear about Indiana being the heartland of basketball, and incidentally Larry Bird did an incredible interview with Bob Costas on Friday at an event we had. I know portions of it were posted online, but it was just a reminder, not just how special Larry is and what a unique interviewer Bob Costas is, but why we all love this game so much.
And I always find it remarkable of the true greats that they can roll back in their head to games that were played 40 years ago or so, and they remember a particular shot they missed, a spot they were on the court, the ball tipped and went in this direction, the outcome would have changed if those things hadn't have happened.
But I think Larry embodies Indiana basketball. So it caused us to go back a bit and think about, well, why is Indiana viewed as the heartland of basketball? Of course, the game was invented by Dr. James Naismith in Massachusetts. We actually found this quote, which I wrote down, and it was said by Dr. Naismith roughly 100 years ago when he came to Indiana to watch a high school state championship.
And the quote is, "While the game was invented in Massachusetts, basketball really had its origin in Indiana, which remains the center of the sport."
So there you go, from Dr. James Naismith himself. This is the place for basketball.
Having said that, while basketball has clearly been nurtured in this state and throughout the United States, we, the NBA, have been the beneficiary but also so has the world. And the sport over my years at the league, and particularly it's grown exponentially over the last few decades, really you can mark that really maybe from the Dream Team in 1992 and on, it's now truly a global game. It's the No. 2 sport after soccer globally, and it's the fastest-growing sport in the world right now.
For this All-Star Game, it will be distributed in over 200 countries and territories -- I'm just checking my notes -- and in over 60 languages.
Players in this league -- not referring to All-Stars but overall now -- represent 45 countries and are roughly 30 percent of this league, and a number that's continuing to grow, including, of course, from some of the very best players, MVP-quality players in this league.
We're very excited about the ongoing prospects for this game in terms of participation and in terms of interest on a global basis.
Again, thank you all for being here. We're thrilled to be here. We're looking forward to some really fun events tonight and a great game tomorrow.
With that, happy to answer any questions.
Q. As you know, the 65-game rule has been a talking point amongst players all season, and by and large it seems there's an understanding and acceptance that something had to be done. To that end, there are also some players that will be supermax eligible if they can get an award. Tyrese Haliburton is on pace to play 63 games. I understand why the rule is in place. Is it time to separate the supermax from the awards?
ADAM SILVER: My answer is I'm not sure. As you know, a lot of thought went into the 65-game demarcation. Not only was it collectively bargained with the players, but we spent extensive time leading up to collective bargaining talking to all the various constituencies in the league, most importantly the coaches or general managers, individual players directly, and as was built into your question, the notion was we needed to further incentivize players, particularly star players, to play more games.
So I'm not ready to say that it isn't working so far. I can tell you that the number of games that players have participated in is up this season, and interestingly enough, injuries are actually down. Whether that's meaningful data yet, I don't know.
I think the right time to take a further look at this rule is at the end of the season when we see -- sort of at least have a year under our belt.
Q. I won't go over all of the offensive numbers, but scoring is up over the past decade, more 70-point individual performances in the past two years than the previous 40. One NBA coach said that defense was being legislated out of the game. What is your view on the offensive explosion? Is it good for the league? Does it make for a better product? Then is the competition committee looking at anything that might sway a couple rules changes in favor of the defense?
ADAM SILVER: So, first of all, just in terms of the difference from last season to this, we're up approximately one point per game, just to be clear. I want to dispel any notion that the league feels or that the league office necessarily feels that high-scoring games in the abstract are good.
I think what we want are competitive games. That's what's most important to us, and that's what we hear from our fans, as well.
I think there's a lot happening here, and I've talked to a lot of coaches and a lot of players about it. I think, first of all, the skill level is off the charts. I think what we're seeing is now in this league every player at every position has to be able to shoot the basketball.
You're seeing this global pool of talent coming into the league, some of the best athletes in the world, who can, frankly, just shoot the lights out. I think that's partly what's responsible for the increased scoring.
I disagree with people who feel that teams aren't playing defense. You've been covering this league a long time; the defensive intensity is there. Defensive players are asked to cover much larger areas of the court than they had to historically. Even this was something Larry Bird was talking about during his interview Friday.
I actually am pleased with the state of the game. Having said that, I know there are some coaches who feel that we've hampered in some ways defensive players' ability to play defense, at least the way it used to be played in this league. In part, that's been very intentional. There was a period of time in this league when people thought the game had become too physical and we'd taken away some of the aesthetic beauty from the game. I was one of those people that felt that way in the '90s.
Whether or not there need to be any adjustments now is something we listen to our coaches, we listen to our players, and the competition committee will continue to consider.
I think one thing I'd say, people think that fans like high-scoring games. I think fans like to see players have that ability, use these extraordinary talents. I think, on the other hand, what we hear from fans as well is they like defensive intensity and they want players to be able to play physical defense but not in a way that it hampers, as I said, offensive players from using their incredible skills.
I'm pleased with where the game is, but it is something we'll continue to look at.
Q. I was going to ask about the scoring, but I'll move on to the bundle, the streaming bundle that was announced recently. What was your initial reaction to that? How does it affect the ongoing negotiations that you have?
ADAM SILVER: My initial reaction to it is I think it's positive to the extent that consumers have more choices, more choices in the way in which they can receive sports, in which they can receive NBA basketball. Other than that, I don't have a lot more to say because I'm just learning about it.
Q. You were with the league when Michael Jordan left the league a quarter century ago, and obviously we're here, LeBron James' 20th All-Star Game this year. For a generation he's sort of been the face of the league, arguably. I know we're not sure how long he's going to play, but at some point probably in the fairly near future he will not be around anymore, and I was curious what your thoughts are on sort of what the league will look like after that and what your thoughts are in terms of sort of replacing him as the face of the league at some point moving forward?
ADAM SILVER: Interesting question. I would say, first of all, I would never anoint another player to be the next LeBron James, just in the same way when Michael retired -- and you're right, I was part of the league then. That question often came up: Who's going to be the next Michael Jordan?
And I remember at the time David Stern was saying whoever demonstrates on the court that they should be. That's what's so wonderful about the competition in the league.
Also, I would say the league is in fantastic hands. Just look at the All-Stars that we're going to be seeing competing tomorrow night. As I said, from the time that Michael retired to now, look at the magnitude of the pool of international players coming into this league. Look at the amount of basketball that's being played on a global basis.
I think it's, again, that these new players aren't anointed. They demonstrate to the world, they demonstrate to the league that they deserve to be viewed in that same rare position as players like Michael and Kobe and LeBron and others.
Let's just watch the competition. I'm certain people in this room have their own ideas, looking at some of these young guys, who those players could be.
But as I said, the level of basketball, and even you talk to some of the greats from the past will say, it's remarkable to watch what these guys now physically are able to do on the floor.
Q. What can you tell us about maybe the NBA Paris Game next year, maybe two, maybe with the Spurs?
ADAM SILVER: I can say that we will be back playing a regular-season game again in Paris. There's some discussions ongoing about which arena we will play in.
Stay tuned in terms of the Spurs playing in Paris. I can tell you that Victor Wembanyama was involved in the Rising Stars game last night. He's in town. It's certainly something that he very much would like to see, his team, the San Antonio Spurs, playing in Paris.
Q. I think it was 2017 that you and Chris Paul had the conversation about the All-Star Game being not good at that moment, and you guys started talking about all these ways to innovate. You brought in the Elam Ending, you created the player draft and scrapped East versus West, various innovations on the player draft. I know the Elam Ending itself maybe had mixed results, but the player draft was actually, it seemed to me, pretty popular with the fans and with us, the very-hard-to-please media crowd. You've scrapped all that again to go back to East versus West. I know you've said tradition because you're in Indiana, but my suspension is if it had worked to the satisfaction of the league, you guys would have continued those innovations. What was the rationale behind going back to the old way, if you can say that without using the word "tradition," "traditional," or any version thereof?
ADAM SILVER: Operating under those rules, we returned to the East versus West format and the 48-minute game format because we thought what we were doing was not working. I'd say people uniformly were critical of last year's All-Star Game and felt it was not a competitive game. It was not a position held solely by the league. I think the players collectively recognized, as well, that it wasn't what they wanted to see, either, that they had not put their best foot forward.
I'd say Andre Iguodala now, who is the executive director, former player, of the Players Association, shares that view with the league office; that we're not necessarily looking for players to go out there as if it's the Finals necessarily, but we need players to play defense, we need them to care about this game.
And the feeling was that maybe -- and I'll take responsibility for it; as you know, I used to run something called NBA Entertainment -- that we'd gotten carried away a little bit with the entertainment aspect.
By that I'm not just talking about the halftime or the intros, per se. One of the things we heard from the players, and I think this goes to the draft, was on one hand now you're telling us you want us to play this as if it were a real game, but there's nothing about it that feels like a real game. You have us standing up on stage, operating through this draft. Then once the intros start, we get cold, we're standing there forever, we don't get to go through our usual routines. Then come halftime you're adding not just a little bit of extra time but a lot of extra time, so we get cold in the locker rooms.
I think we sat down with the players and we listened to them, and we said, all right, we have to return to basketball, back to basketball, so to speak. It's about the game. That's ultimately how we're going to be judged.
I think sometimes when you're in the market for an All-Star Game and you're having fun at all the events and the parties and all those other things, people are often saying to me -- I've been doing this a lot of years -- before the game even takes place on Sunday night: This has been a fantastic All-Star Weekend.
Then, of course, if the game is lousy, then you all just are doing your jobs and representing what's happening here to the world, the reports are it was a lousy All-Star because the game wasn't that exciting. And, frankly, fans are able to vote by what they watch too. They have so many options.
So the thought was here, we sat down with the players, we said, let's return to a focus on the game of basketball. Let's come pretty close to your typical routine. We still want the opportunity to introduce to fans around the world the All-Star rosters. We still want to have a little bit of fun at halftime, so just add a slight amount of time and let's see what we get.
My sense is it's a combination of discussions that the leadership of the players are having with the All-Stars. I think discussions Joe Dumars is having directly with players. Frankly, having Joe Dumars and his credibility in the league office, I think we're going to see a good game tomorrow night.
And I didn't use the word "tradition."
Q. Returning quickly to the offense-defense balance question, it's been kind of a truism around the league from players, coaches, that defense is still what wins in the playoffs, that they're operating under a different set of rules almost in spring and summer than they are the rest of the season. Before you get to competition committee stuff, is there any concern about the game that fans watch throughout the year looking different than the game that decides championships? Are you worried about an imbalance there?
ADAM SILVER: I'm not. It's something we do talk about. I think it's a function of an 82-game season and then four rounds of playoffs. I think it's only natural that when you get to the point where these are playoff games that are determining whether you so-called win or go home, there's going to be an added level of intensity.
People often ask me, well, if players aren't going to play at a certain intensity level for 82 games, does that mean your season should be shorter? I don't necessarily think that's the case. I think people understand there's a regular season, they understand there's playoffs, and they understand the difference between the Finals and the first round and a Game 7 and a Game 1. And I think it's part of the rhythm of the game.
The short answer is no, I'm not concerned.
Q. The All-Star Game itself has been reinvented a couple of times in the past years. What hasn't changed in the past 42 years is the roster size. It's 12, even though back then we had seven teams less. Now with an expansion maybe looming and so much talent in the league and NBA rosters having an extra spot these days, is there a plan that this might be added one, two roster spots to the All-Star Game in the coming years?
ADAM SILVER: There's no plan now to add roster spots. I think part of the issue is, even though you're right, we've expanded the number of teams, we haven't expanded the number of minutes, and there's still only one ball. And then the question is how do you distribute those minutes among the All-Stars?
Also, I think when we sat down with the players and discussed this during bargaining, there is that sense of specialness in being an All-Star or being one of 24 as opposed to being one of a larger number. I never say never to anything, but it seems to be resolved right now that this is the right size of the teams.
Q. This year's draft, you guys are moving it to two days. What went into that? Was it more teams that wanted more time in the second round, or was it drawing more interest to the players in the second round and making it a two-day thing? Are you guys just going to reevaluate the success of this plan and then go forward in the future?
ADAM SILVER: The answer is, to begin with your last question, which is, sure, we'll reevaluate after we see how it works.
I would say you hit on the two primary reasons. One, we did hear from our teams that these second-round picks have become increasingly important. And their ability to reset, not just to have more time, which we've offered between picks in the second round, going from two minutes to four minutes, but, in addition, the opportunity to reset after the first round in the draft, to reassess what their needs are and have that data, consider that, was something they were very interested. That was from the team standpoint.
But from the league standpoint, we were pleased. In the old, old days, the draft didn't even used to be in prime time, and we went from prime time on ESPN to prime time on ABC and ESPN. I used to do the second round. Of course Mark Tatum is here, deputy commissioner, now does the second round.
Sometimes given the level of interest in this league, it seemed, frankly, a little bit silly that we were standing there at 12:30 a.m. at night calling off names for the second round of our draft. To the extent that our partner ESPN came to us and said: There is sufficient interest that, if you're interested, we think this merits prime time coverage on ESPN.
For us, it was pretty straightforward. Of course we needed the Players Association agreement to do that, and it wasn't universally popular. There was some people who felt maybe we should just get it all done in one night.
But I think for me, I felt sort of combining all those different interests, the opportunity to give that additional exposure to the second-round picks, the opportunity to talk about why these picks are so valuable to teams, how deep the rosters are these days, it seemed to me like a no-brainer.
But you never know. We'll get through this first draft, and then I'm sure we'll sit down with the players, we'll sit down with our partners and see whether or not it worked.
Q. You talk about the fans, you talk about always NBA reinventing itself. This year we have Steph versus Sabrina. Is there any plans to add more events like this one for the future years or something like that?
ADAM SILVER: You know, I take the question is are there plans to add more integration of the WNBA women's game into All-Star festivities? Possibly. I've been encouraged by the amount of interest in Sabrina and Steph engaging in this 3-Point Contest, so of course let's see how it goes. I think it's highly anticipated.
Incidentally, so much credit to them. I wish I could say that the league in its lab came up with this idea. This was about Steph and Sabrina, two friends who said, Won't this be fantastic? I know that Steph cares a lot about the women's game, the opportunity to bring more attention to this fantastic shooting.
I'm excited to see it. I'm really encouraged. I'd also add it's not just enormous increase in interest in the WNBA over the last several years, but we're seeing it in women's college basketball, as well. I'm highly encouraged on behalf of the game of basketball that we're seeing so much growth.
I should add -- I could have said this earlier -- in addition to being the fastest growing sport in the world, we are the No. 1 participation sport in the United States, team sport, and not just boys but girls are playing this sport in record numbers.
I've said this before. I think increasingly in this league, the opportunity to have more female refs, more female coaches, more focus on women's basketball, more opportunity for these leagues to support each other and cross promote, I think is just fantastic on behalf of the game of basketball.
Q. Players being frustrated with officiating is always going to be inherent to the game, but a lot of players have complained about not getting feedback, not feeling heard or communicated with when they're getting techs, they're frustrated about calls. There's been so many Respect for the Game rules put in place for the players over the last few years. How do you balance at this point having the respect for the officiating with also the respect for the players and making sure that they feel heard?
ADAM SILVER: I'm so sympathetic to both players who feel that an official missed a call, and sometimes they do, and I'm incredibly sympathetic to officials who have some of the hardest jobs in sports and are under a microscope and occasionally, of course, do miss calls, and we acknowledge when they do.
I think what makes me most frustrated are precisely issues you're referring to – the communication issues sort of between players and officials. I feel that's an area we should be able to do a better job, both ways. I put that on the category of, as you said, respect for the game.
I'm really encouraged to have Andre Iguodala as a partner to talk about these issues because he's not just a former player, 19 years with the league, multiple championships, he understands the pressure. He understands the issue. I think there's a real willingness on behalf of the officials as well to do better. I think this is a real area of focus for us that we're going to be working on.
I think it's easy to say Respect for the Game. I think people recognize that how players -- how the communication works, it's not a typical workplace. We have to take into account the high stress they're under.
But it's something that all of us, even if we're not basketball experts, are in a position to judge when we see that dynamic, and particularly now when so many cameras, so much high-fidelity audio, we’re able to pick up a lot of what's being said. There just has to be a two-way sense of respect. I'm sympathetic to the frustration and feel it's an area where we can make progress.
Q. Last year you were touting the amount of teams still in playoff contention and kind of the parity around the league, and then the CBA seemed to try to create more parity by lessening the salary payroll disparity. The league has always seemed to be in kind of more boom times when there are dynastic-level teams, really good teams for a number of years that kind of lord over the league to some degree. Why did you feel like it's in the league's best interest to try to drive parity at the cost of those kind of outsized teams that seem to be so popular and help the business interests?
ADAM SILVER: Well, I would say it absolutely differently. We're not trying to drive parity as much as parity of opportunity.
I think in this league, superstar players are still going to win a disproportionate number of championships, and well-managed franchises are still going to win a disproportionate number of championships.
Where I thought it wasn't good for the game and it wasn't good for the league, that there was no question that there's a correlation between spending and the quality of the team, and that while I understand that dynasties are something that fans will get behind, at the same time what you hear from fans is they want those teams to be created the right way. So people aren't that interested in seeing teams buy championships, so to speak.
We felt by leveling the playing field and by creating more parity in terms of opportunity, that would help us continue on that continuum towards a more competitive 30-team league.
If you look back over the last at least two decades in this league through successive collective bargaining agreements, I think we've made progress.
Incidentally, I'll just add that this is not just a league interest. I think it's a player one, too, because if there's going to be a draft, who wants to get drafted to a team that has a significant disadvantage because of the size of their market and their opportunity to generate revenue.
I'll just lastly say, look no further than the NFL. We're a very different league, different number of games, different impact of star players, but I marvel at the job they've done in terms of creating a truly competitive league where you hardly ever hear discussions about market size.
I'll just add, I use Victor Wembanyama as an example. I think for people that have been covering the league for a while, certainly 20 years ago, probably even 10 years ago, if a transcendent player like Victor Wembanyama were drafted first -- were the first pick in the draft and he had gone to a small market, people would have said, oh, that's too bad, he's not going to have the same economic opportunity or not as many people are going to see him.
Nobody says that now. He goes to San Antonio and people say, opportunity to play under Coach Pop, R.C. Buford with his experience, San Antonio organization experience with big man, international players, and I think Victor feels the same way, in a digital world that every game is available on a smartphone everywhere in the world.
I think, given that, that in the long-term, both competitive and business interests of the league, we're better off having a league where there's more competitive fairness and opportunity among all the teams in the league.
Q. I want to get your perspective on the new Adelson-Dumont governorship in Dallas, whether that in any way signals a deepening of the league's relationship in gaming, and also any reflections you might have of Mark Cuban's 24 years of governorship?
ADAM SILVER: On Adelson-Dumont ownership, no, I don't think that signals any increase in gaming for the league. They have gaming interests, but those are independent of their interest in owning the team.
As we always say, you sort of park your day job -- it's one of the reasons why we have in place the salary system we do, so that whatever you're doing off the court is independent of the rules that you're operating under, and all of our gaming rules will apply to the Adelson-Dumont families in the same way they do to other people.
Also, if you look at the governor Patrick Dumont's lifelong interest in basketball, he's somebody who's been talking to the league for years about potential team ownership, about their level of interest. They operate on a global basis. All the things I talked about earlier in terms of these fantastic attributes of the NBA are things that they're very focused on.
In terms of Mark, he's had an incredible impact on this league. I have been with the league through his entire tenure of his ownership, from his earliest days in the league. He pushed us hard. He came in as a technologist. I think it was almost precisely in 2000, right around -- I was saying this on Friday with our Technology Summit, we began those Technology Summits in 2000 in San Francisco. I believe Mark was a panelist on our first one, and I think he was every year, and he's someone that I've built a very close relationship over the years.
Despite some of the back-and-forth with Mark and David [Stern] publicly and a little bit with me, there's always been very respectful relationships. I think he pushed us to be more -- early days, not just more focused on technology but more of a marketing organization was something that he always cared about.
Certainly on the basketball side, again, putting aside some of the public stuff, I know he's cared a lot about the officiating program. Again, behind closed doors, we've worked together. He'll speak for himself. I'm not saying we've satisfied him all along the way. He's been frustrated over aspects of the game.
But he's truly been a game-changing owner in this league, and he's had great success, obviously, with a championship but also competitive teams most of the time during his tenure. And he's been a very active participant in league matters, whether it's been our media committee or Board of Governors meetings. He's never hesitated to speak his mind.
I'm pleased that he's still -- he's not the controlling governor of the team anymore, but he's still a very significant investor in the Dallas Mavericks as he's made clear he's not going anywhere. If you just tune into a game, he still seems to be standing in the same spot he was when he was the governor, and he continues to text, email, call us at the league office when he has something he wants to share with us.
Q. This is year four for the G League Ignite, and I believe they're 2-19 this season. What's been the overall evaluation as you guys entered into this sort of academy process with Ignite? And as image and likeness money only increases in amateur sports, what's the NBA's appetite to keep up with the Joneses on that front?
ADAM SILVER: It's an important question, I think, where we're going, in terms of youth basketball. The time that we formed Team Ignite, I think I was very public about the fact that I favored going to a minimum age of 18 instead of 19. As we sat down with our players to discuss that and then essentially the college market changed, the introduction of collectives, NIL, the transfer portal, a lot changed around us, and then we came to a consensus when we sat down with the players and our teams that we were better off staying at 19.
I'd say also some of the societal concerns that were driving us to move to 18, that there seemed to be an unfairness that these players even at the highest level couldn't earn a living in college basketball, and we, the league and the Players Association together, were preventing them from doing that. I think sort of that dissipated because all of a sudden this great economic opportunity presented itself through these various programs at college.
I think given that that's happened, I think we are in the process of reassessing Team Ignite because now some of those same players who didn't want to be one-and-done players because they felt it was unfair and they wanted the ability not just to earn a living playing basketball but to do commercial deals that weren't available to them at college, to hire professional agents, an opportunity that wasn't available to them at college, they now -- all of those same opportunities have become available to them.
I'm not sure what the future of Team Ignite will be, because before there was a hole in the marketplace that we thought we were filling before doing that, and now my focus is turning to earlier development of those players.
If you're seeing now, what we're seeing in terms of that close to 30 percent of the league, players born outside the United States, it's clear that the development is very different in many of those programs outside the United States, more of a focus on practice, less of a focus on games, which seems to be the opposite of many of the youth programs in the United States.
I think that now we've begun discussions with the NCAA, the vast majority of the top players will play in college and never play in the NBA, of course, so we have a common interest in just improving the game, developing players, developing -- players, there's no question, they're coming into the league incredibly skilled, but that doesn't necessarily translate to being team basketball players. And then what I'm hearing from some of those same coaches that may be complaining about inability to play defense is that these players are not as prepared as I'd like them to be, particularly as very high draft picks.
So I think there's an opportunity for us to be part of the community that's developing younger players, elite players, and also, as I mentioned before, in terms of increased participation numbers, of just us being a more active participant in getting kids active, boys and girls, with our Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA programs.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports