NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke today at the league’s Board of Governors meetings about a few items of interest, including the subject of teams resting healthy stars, which he called the most important issue facing the league at the moment (Twitter link via Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today).
According to Silver, the NBA hopes to avoid having teams play four games in five nights next season and will also aim to further reduce back-to-backs in general (Twitter links via Frank Isola of The New York Daily News and Zillgitt).
Noting that the issue is a “complex” one, Silver added that owners agreed teams should avoid resting multiple players during nationally televised games, and the league’s preference is to rest players for home games rather than road contests (Twitter link via Howard Beck of Bleacher Report).
Adjusting the 82-game schedule is one potential idea that has been thrown out as a potential solution to the issue of teams resting players. While Silver acknowledged that it’s possible the league, at some point, could come together and agree to reduce the number of regular season games, that’s not on the table for now and wasn’t discussed this week (Twitter link via Isola). The commissioner pointed out that there’s also no hard data indicating that slashing a few games from the schedule would help improve players’ health or eliminate the rest issue (Twitter link via Beck).
The rest issue wasn’t the only one addressed by Silver, who also said that Charlotte is back in the running to potentially host the 2019 NBA All-Star Game. Per the commissioner, North Carolina’s adjustments to the so-called “bathroom bill” don’t entirely resolve the league’s concerns, but Charlotte will still receive strong ASG consideration (Twitter link via Chris Mannix of The Vertical). The Hornets issued a statement this afternoon expressing enthusiasm about the possibility of hosting the 2019 contest.
Finally, Silver also discussed Knicks owner James Dolan, who recently had a verbal altercation with a fan who told him he should sell the franchise. As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com details, the commissioner didn’t seem particularly concerned and didn’t suggest the league would get involved. Dolan “is as frustrated as any Knicks fan” with the state of the team, Silver said (Twitter link via Isola).
What were the changes to the bathroom bill?
Government can no longer regulate who goes where, however people can put their own restrictions (I think)
Adam silver is the worst commissioner in the history of sports. He has single handily hijacked the league and forced everyone to follow his personal bias. Using the league as a hostage for political issues is completely unacceptable and both Adam silver and lebron James should be investigated for rigging games and being detrimental to the sport. There is a reason Adam and lebron are such good friends, and their outspoken liberalism is a true enemy of the league.
Yeah I’ve never seen such a political commissioner. To me that’s not what any sport is about.