Adam Silver: Hawks Sale “Moving Along”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the sale of the Atlanta Hawks is  “moving along on course,” according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Speaking Saturday night at his annual All-Star weekend press conference, the commissioner said there are “several interested parties” who would like to buy the team.

Silver touched on several other topics in the wide ranging news conference (all links go to Twitter unless otherwise noted):

• Silver indicated plans for an exhibition game involving NBA players in South Africa August 1st, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, which would be the league’s first game on that continent. The game would not include NBA teams, reports Jody Genessy of The Deseret News, but would feature players who want to be involved.
• The commissioner noted that the players’ union doesn’t seem interested in a cap-smoothing proposal, Mannix reports. Silver said the league’s plan would prevent a huge jump in the salary cap in 2016. The proposal would have lowered the cap to an artificial number, but players would still receive 51% of revenues (Twitter link).
• The commissioner said the Warriors’ plan for a new arena in San Francisco is ” a huge undertaking,” but is “right on track,” tweets Rusty Simmons of The San Francisco Chronicle.
• Silver addressed the league age limit, according to Tim Bontemps of The New York Post, saying he would like to see it raised to 20, but he “understands the other side of the issue.”
• The commissioner also pledged the league’s support to a national three-on-three tournament, Bontemps reported.
• Silver added that making changes to the playoff format is difficult because there are no perfect solutions, according to Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com.