Tag: Adam Silver

The NBA’s wise tweak to the coach’s challenge rule is another step towards getting calls right

The NBA made a smart expansion to its replay rules.

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.

The NBA’s Board of Governors met this week, and the biggest headline to come out of it was that the league isn’t quite ready for expansion, as commissioner Adam Silver stated at his board of governors press conference.

One under-the-radar thing to come out of the meeting, though, was the governors’ approval of an expansion to the use of a Coach’s Challenge when reviewing out-of-bounds violations.

The new rule will go into effect this upcoming season and will allow officials to review whether a foul near the out-of-bounds play should have been called.

An example provided by the NBA was a challenge by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals on a ball that went out of bounds off Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels after he was hit on the arm by Kyrie Irving. The Mavericks won the challenge and were awarded possession. Under the new rule, officials would have been able to instead call a foul on Irving.

This was a smart tweak to the rule and almost surprising it didn’t already exist. It eliminates the frustration of having to live with obvious fouls that officials couldn’t call retroactively. It also adds another element of getting things right without adding any of the extra time to a game that so many replay rules tend to add.

If anything, this rule could actually cut down on replay in certain instances. Coach’s may be hesitant to review some out-of-bounds violations if there’s a chance it backfires and ends with one of their players being assessed a foul.

What’s the hold on expansion?

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Back to the topic of expansion, Adam Silver said it wasn’t discussed much at the Board of Governors meeting because the league isn’t ready for it yet.

This was somewhat surprising to hear considering all the talk we’ve heard over the years of the NBA potentially opening shop in Las Vegas or getting a team back in Seattle. My colleague Mike Sykes wondered in today’s edition of The Morning Win, what’s the holdup?

“It sounds like the NBA is pressing the pause button on expansion for now. But you’ve got to wonder what the hold-up is here. The table is perfectly set. There’s so much talent around the league. The cash is flowing. Now is the time. It’s a peculiar decision not to at least begin to move forward.

Maybe it’s because the NBA isn’t quite settled with the television deal yet. With Warner Bros. Discovery suing the NBA, all the ducks aren’t quite in a row with that just yet.

Or maybe the league is waiting on LeBron James to retire. He did say he wanted to own a franchise eventually and has been eyeing Las Vegas as his start. Could there be an under-the-table handshake to keep things paused while James finishes out his career? I have no idea.

Regardless, we’re stuck here playing the waiting game. I guess we’ll see when the time comes.”

If you aren’t subscribed to The Morning Win, do it now for more of that from Sykes and the FTW team.

Shootaround

— Breanna Stewart ripped WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert for her response to Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese fan toxicity

— Joe Mazzulla had a weird explanation for why the Celtics won’t be ‘defending’ their title this season

— Mazzulla also credited the Pacers for pushing the Celtics the most during their title run

— Caitlin Clark calling A’ja Wilson unguardable put to bed any WNBA MVP debate

Second Apron Blues: How the NBA’s CBA is reshaping team dynamics

The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) sets out the terms and conditions, and respective rights and obligations of NBA teams, players, and the league. On average, a new CBA is negotiated every 5 to 7 years – with the latest taking effect in July …

The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) sets out the terms and conditions, and respective rights and obligations of NBA teams, players, and the league. On average, a new CBA is negotiated every 5 to 7 years – with the latest taking effect in July 2023 and extending to the end of the 2029-30 season. The CBA defines everything from how income is distributed between the teams and players, to how player contracts are structured, pension benefits, fines and penalties, trade rules, and much more.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver regrets the pending sale of the Boston Celtics

“I’m frankly saddened by it,” said Silver.

It is not just fans of the Boston Celtics who are feeling down about the decision of Celtics Governor and majority owner Wyc Grousbeck and family. The move, which came soon after Boston won their long-coveted 18th banner, has also saddened the Commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, who recently shared his displeasure with the development.

“I’m frankly saddened by it, just because not only have they won two championships (under the team’s current ownership), but beyond that, they’ve operated the team in a first-class manner, and (Grousbeck has) been a first-class owner in this league,” said Silver to the press at Las Vegas Summer League via MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “Again, I respect the decision that his family has made that it’s time to sell the team.”

“I think it’s bittersweet for everyone,” he added. “Hopefully the successor owner or owners will be as fantastic stewards of the team as they have been.”

“They’ve been a model franchise with model ownership,” said Silver. Should current minority owner Steve Pagliuca end up the new majority owner, that tradition should continue.

Whether he will remains to be seen, however.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

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Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

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NBA expansion discussions are right around the corner and the league better be ready for it

The NBA needs to ask itself some serious questions about expansion

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes

Happy Friday, Winners! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you’ve got a great weekend planned ahead of you.

The NBA has been making some power moves on the business side of things. We’ve heard all about the league’s upcoming television rights deal, which we’ll actually get into a little bit later in the newsletter.

But what I want to touch on here today is expansion. It’s coming. And it’ll probably be here pretty quickly after the league wraps up its new TV deal.

At this point, the NBA has been talking about expansion for years. Adam Silver has maintained that the league would explore expanding further after the business with the TV deal wrapped up. He reiterated that again to reporters earlier this week.

Well, here we are. The deal is just inches away from the finish line with Turner Sports holding things up. With that in mind, Silver says expansion discussions about expansion will begin “in earnest” this fall.

But what do those discussions look like? What do they entail? The league has to ask itself if it’s the right time to expand. Parity has taken over NBA basketball over these last few years. The NBA has landed in a sweet spot where the talent pool isn’t too dense with stars stacking up on a few teams at a time. Almost every team has a player capable of being an All-Star.

When you expand, you dilute that product. Just simply adding two teams means adding 24 roster spots. A majority of those players will come from teams that are already well-balanced. Does the NBA want that? What does that mean for the product?

That doesn’t even touch on the logistics of it all. Where would these teams be located? What’s travel like there?

This isn’t an argument against expansion. These are just the essential questions the NBA will need to ask itself this fall. when discussions begin. Hopefully, the league finds good answers to them.

READ MORE: Seven most likely cities for NBA expansion

Inside the NBA may survive

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Speaking of the NBA’s new TV deal, it seems like there’s a chance that Turner may hold onto the league’s broadcast rights after all.

You know what that means? Inside the NBA might just survive these negotiations after all. I wrote about that a bit this morning for The Morning Win. 

Turner has five days to decide whether it’ll match a deal from either NBC Universal or Amazon:

“Deadline reported on Wednesday that TNT intends to match the Amazon Prime Video offer, which is reportedly $700 million cheaper than the NBC bid. That won’t come easy. Considering how much money is on the table here, it will probably get ugly and litigious. The stakes are high.

But this is good news for fans hoping the Inside the NBA crew could stick together for the long run. Regardless of negotiations, we’re technically still getting one more season of the show, but so many people have grown up with this show and its incredible cast of characters. Charles Barkley and crew have worked their way into people’s hearts over the last few decades. Knowing that it’s on its last legs is a bit heartbreaking. Most people don’t want to see that simply go away.”

Amazon seems like Turner’s likely target here. If TNT decides to match, surely Amazon will probably try to fight it, considering how much money is on the table.

But the bottom line is this: As close to done as this deal seems, there’s still a bit more work to do before all sides can cross the finish line.

Shootaround

— Five undrafted free agent rookies who have really impressed so far in Summer League from Bryan Kalbrosky.

— Five second-round picks who have emerged as steals so far in the Summer League, again, from Kalbrosky.

— Indiana Fever broadcasters going crazy over Caitlin Clark’s record 19th assist will never get old to me. Meg Hall has more.

—  The Golden State Valkyries are already doing some pretty cool things in the bay area.

That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading. Have a fantastic weekend. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks out on WNBA’s treatment of Caitlin Clark

The NBA is weighing in on Caitlin Clark.

It is no secret the treatment Caitlin Clark is receiving from the WNBA, players, opposing teams, media and many others has been divisive, to say the least. She has been hit with cheap shots, at the center of attention, yet still is the sole reason fans are tuning in. She is carrying the WNBA.

It has been a hot-button topic and some are very strong in their stance of how the treatment has been. Some think it is over the line and too far while others believe it is welcoming a rookie to the league.

The NBA has weighed in on the treatment now. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has given his thoughts on the situation.

It’s nothing new in basketball. There’s, sort of, ‘Welcome to the league’ moments. Especially for heralded rookies. But of course, I want to see Caitlin treated fairly and appropriately in the league. She seems like she can take care of herself; she’s a tough player. – Adam Silver

Silver chose his words carefully as he knows what star players mean to leagues. The NBA relies on LeBron James and other highly touted players to bring fans in so he understands needing those players on the court and playing at a high level.

Ultimately, I think this is very healthy for women’s basketball and the WNBA. It’s generating a tremendous additional interest. In fairness to the other players and in fairness to (WNBA) Commissioner (Cathy) Engelbert, this just didn’t start this year. Certainly, we’re seeing an acceleration of it with Caitlin. But many individual stars within the league. – Adam Silver

Despite the controversial treatment, Clark has rebounded nicely and found her way. She is averaging 16.3 points per game, 6 assists and 4.9 rebounds.

Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions.

Follow Riley on X: @rileydonald7

Kyrie Irving remorseful for sharing link to documentary while with Nets

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that Kyrie Irving is remorseful of sharing the link to an anti-semitic movie while with the Brooklyn Nets.

Kyrie Irving has had one of the more interesting careers that an NBA player has had ever since he entered the NBA as the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. As Irving prepares to help the Dallas Mavericks try to win Game 2 of the NBA Finals at the Boston Celtics, there is more light shed on arguably the most controversial moment during his time with the Brooklyn Nets.

“I think in our private conversations, which at the time included (former NBPA executive director) Tamika Tremaglio … he was very remorseful,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Friday of Irving while speaking at an NBA Cares event, per Sam Amick of The Athletic. On Oct. 27, 2022, Irving posted a tweet with a link to a documentary titled “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.”

The tweet essentially enveloped Irving and the Nets into another controversy after everything the team had been through up to that point as the documentary was described as a movie “stuffed with antisemitic tropes,” according to Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone.

The tweet was denounced by plenty of people around the NBA and Irving eventually made a statement, in concert with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), that he “meant no harm” towards the Jewish community and pledged a $500,000 donation towards causes that focused on eradicating hate in communities.

“He took responsibility,” Silver explained. “I think we all know he can be a bit stubborn, and I think he felt strongly that he needed to speak in his own words in terms of how he expressed himself in terms of an apology to the public.”

Despite all of the backlash that Irving received at the time, Silver, who is Jewish, was one of the people that believed that Irving was not anti-semitic despite sharing a link of the movie. It seems that Silver viewed it as an honest mistake by Irving, someone who has proven to be an outside-of-the-box thinker that has led him astray at times.

“But, there was no doubt for me — and I wouldn’t have said what I did at the time if I didn’t feel that he was absolutely remorseful and was committed to doing the right thing going forward, and also to being empathetic to how others might have perceived his comments,” Silver said.

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Commissioner Adam Silver addresses league’s player participation policy

NBA commissioner Adam Silver addresses the NBA’s new player participation policy after year 1.

The NBA instituted a new player participation policy in the 2023-24 season in order to deter teams from resting their star players and load-managing them to prepare for the playoffs. The policy stated that a player must play in at least 65 games to qualify for awards at the end of the season.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid suffered through a meniscus issue in his left knee that forced him to miss two months after a procedure. When he did play, the big fella averaged 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.7 blocks. He was dominant, but only played in 39 games which disqualified him from any awards.

Speaking before Thursday’s NBA Finals, commissioner Adam Silver addressed the policy as the league now moves forward:

When it comes to injury data, we’re constantly studying it, trying to see if there’s more than correlation and there’s actually causation. Of course, this past season, even though we had the 65-game rule, largely designed to keep star players on the floor, we had a decrease in injury in star players.

I’m not standing here saying one followed from the other. It just may be happenstance for this season. I think we saw injuries, of course, in the Playoffs this year, but nothing that out of range with injuries we’ve seen in the past.

Silver brought up the playoffs due to the injuries suffered by star players such as Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, Kristaps Porzingis, and others. The policy has its usefulness, but at the same time, Embiid shouldn’t be penalized for awards because an injury forced him to miss time.

That’s something Silver and the Player’s Association are still figuring out:

I will say just based on one season of data, we’re happy with the 65-game rule. There was sort of a parade of horribles that had rolled out, that had been rolled out, that everybody was saying, were threatening were going to happen. Those things didn’t happen.

In terms of not just a reduction in star player injuries this year, but it worked to the extent we saw star players on the floor more. That was the goal.

We have the same incentives, and that is to keep star players on the floor.

It will be interesting to see if there will be any tweaks to the policy as the offseason continues and the 2024-25 season rapidly approaches.

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Adam Silver apologized to Inside The NBA for ‘prolonged’ media rights negotiations

Silver said it’s on the league to finish these negotiations quickly

Adam Silver has a job to do as NBA commissioner when it comes to getting the best possible media rights deal for the league. The overall health of the sport depends greatly on it.

He also is a both a fan of TNT’s Inside The NBA, and friends with the four hosts that make up the league’s most-popular studio show. That’s made things a bit uncomfortable amid reports that Warner Bros. Discovery, TNT’s parent company, will likely be shutout of the league’s next rights package.

We’ve heard for awhile now that the deal is expected to be completed any day and moral around the show “sucks”, according to Charles Barkley. Ahead of Thursday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Boston, Silver had a chance to address the media and said admitted it’s been difficult having the future of the show in limbo.

“I will say directly from me, directly to your question and the people who seem to be most impacted right now, the folks at Turner Sports, I apologize that this has been a prolonged process,” Silver said. “Because I know they’re committed to their jobs. I know people who work in this industry. It’s a large part of their identity and their family’s identity, and no one likes this uncertainty. I think it’s on the league office to bring these negotiations to a head and conclude them as quickly as we can.”

In most of his (many, many) comments on the future of the show, Barkley has centered the conversation less on the four panelists and more on the staffers at TNT who make the production what it is. It’s nice to hear Silver speak directly to them, limited as that relief may be.

In any case, it’s nice to see Silver address the less fun aspects of negotiating a new broadcast deal. Whatever the league gains in this round, it will always be remembered for killing Inside The NBA if TNT is shutout, even if it’s not Silver’s fault.

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The NBA’s next TV deal potentially including a major streaming service for its biggest games can go so wrong

The streaming wars are taking over sports, and that could include the NBA.

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good Morning, Winners! Happy Earth Day! I hope you’re well on this glorious Monday morning. Welcome back to the Morning Win.

There’s been a ton of NBA playoff action this weekend. Could you imagine having to go to, say, Amazon Prime to check it out? If the NBA has its way, that could potentially be in the cards moving forward.

ESPN and TNT’s exclusive negotiating window for the NBA’s television rights reportedly closes at midnight. If that does happen, a deal between the three sides can still be done. But it also opens the window for other partners to swoop in and woo the biggest basketball league in the world.

That’s what the NBA wants, according to the latest from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.

While the league seems interested in continuing its relationship with TNT and ESPN, it does not seem very interested in granting its two longtime broadcast partners the exclusive rights they had previously.

Particularly, Marchand says, the NBA is ready to get in bed with a streamer of some sort. While negotiations with TNT and ESPN are expected to continue, the league will also reportedly entertain overtures from Amazon, NBC, Netflix and more. The NBA is ready for a slice of that streaming pie, baby.

On one hand, you can’t blame the NBA here. Its contemporaries have all seemed to have varying levels of success playing the streaming game.

The NFL’s exclusive Thursday night window for Amazon has been a hit, with viewership reportedly increasing by 24 percent to almost 12 million viewers on average. The NFL also has the Peacock Playoff games that I thought we all hated. Yet, somehow, the NFL reportedly had 24 million viewers for those games on average.

When you view the NBA’s negotiating tactics here from that lens, it’s easy to see why the league is reportedly interested in streaming big games like conference title showdowns or even the NBA Finals on a streaming service. That’s a valuable platform.

But I think that could be a mistake — especially if those big games were exclusively paywalled like the NFL did with its games.

The NFL makes it look easy, man. It’s king in the sports world. No matter when the games are, where they are or how they’re broadcast, people will watch them. It’s a true “if you build it, they will come” situation.

The NBA doesn’t have that or anything close to that. This is a league that’s building gimmicky tournaments in the middle of its season to not only sell something new to streamers but also keep people interested and invigorated.

Sure, the stakes of, say, the NBA Finals would intrinsically build that interest. I’d buy a Peacock subscription for that in a heartbeat. So would a bunch of other nerds like me.

But what about the casuals who don’t already have one? Would they be as interested? The answer is probably not. It’s just not the same draw. Nobody but the NFL has that.

Streaming the NBA would be fine. In fact, I’d even call it a good thing. Cable isn’t dead, but there’s no question that it’s fading. Streaming options are required for big sports leagues in this day and age.

But access is important. Going streaming exclusive would be a huge mistake. Let’s hope the NBA doesn’t make it.

Golf legends are building at the same time

(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

We had a special weekend in the golf world, folks.

First, Nelly Korda won a record-tying fifth straight tournament on the LPGA tour after winning the Chevron championship over the weekend. She finished two strokes under Maja Stark to win her second career major.

With that win, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2005) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events. That’s surreal. If you’d asked Korda if she’d be in this moment back in 2022 while recovering from a blood clot that required surgery, she’d probably have said no.

On the other side in the PGA, Scottie Scheffler is building out quite the resume himself.

Scheffler won the RBC Heritage tournament on Monday after a rain delay. His lead was so demonstrative that a bogey on the final hole of the tournament didn’t even matter — he still finished 3-under 68 and held a three-shot victory over the competition.

Scheffler has won four of his last five starts and has taken home a purse of a bit over $16 million in the last 42 days.

I won’t call him Tiger-esque. I refuse to call him Tiger-esque … but it does feel pretty close, doesn’t it?

Golf is in a great place, folks.

Playoff hockey is the most stressful thing ever

Case in point: This goal from the Jets on Sunday night. I still have no idea how this went in. Our Mary Clarke doesn’t, either:

“In the midst of a wild back-and-forth Game 1, Adam Lowry extended the Jets’ lead to 5-3 in the third period after an absolutely bonkers sequence. Lowry’s shot hit both posts and then somehow managed to streak across the goal line just barely as it was spinning wildly in the air.

Originally this sequence was called no-goal on the ice, before replays caught the puck spinning right over the line before pivoting back out again.”

Look at how close this is, y’all. Come on.

I’m sorry, Avalanche homies. That’s a tough one. Especially in a tight game like that one? There were 13 total goals scored last night. Every single one made a difference — maybe none more than that one right there that was just mere inches away from not being a goal at all.

Like I said. Playoff hockey. It’s the most stressful thing in sports.

Quick hits: The underdogs rise up … NFL draft dads … and more

— The underdogs ruled the weekend in the NBA playoffs. Our Prince Grimes has more on that for you.

— There are a ton of NFL draft dads this year that will make you feel old as dirt. Here’s Charles Curtis with more.

— Christian D’Andrea has seven slept-on NFL prospects you should definitely keep an eye on.

— Joe Mazzulla being excited about Jayson Tatum’s hard fall here is so weird...but I like it. Robert Zeglinski has more.

— Damian Lillard didn’t go to Coachella this year and he’s so happy about it. Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more.

— There’s no way the White Sox should be this bad. This is wild. Andrew Joseph has more.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate you. Have a fantastic Monday. Let’s do this again tomorrow. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

Fans love the cool LED court the NBA is using for All-Star Weekend in Indiana

This court definitely looks AWESOME.

The NBA showcased new technology with an LED court for All-Star Weekend in Indiana and it was hard to not notice this innovation.

While it was unclear beforehand how fans would react to the new look for the festivities, it didn’t take long for fans to immediately fall in love with what they saw at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Even though we won’t get to see the All-Star Game played on these fancy courts this year, fans seemed impressed with what the LED courts could do to entertain them during the festivities.

RELATED: The NBA unveiled a jaw-dropping LED court for All-Star Weekend and the future is here