Adam Silver Talks 65-Game Rule, All-Star Game, Mexico City, IST

The push-back from some players and fans over how the NBA’s new 65-game minimum for end-of-season awards has affected certain stars didn’t come as a surprise to the league, according to commissioner Adam Silver, who told Shaun Powell of NBA.com that he believes the policy has worked as intended.

One noteworthy case has been that of Tyrese Haliburton, an All-Star whose new contract extension would increase in value by more than $40MM if he makes an All-NBA team in 2023/24. The Pacers guard has already missed 13 games so far this season, giving him little margin for error if he hopes to remain eligible to qualify for that salary bump.

“In a league where contracts are fully guaranteed, there’s no reduction in salary for a player who doesn’t make the playoffs or plays a reduced number of games, whether it’s because they were injured or because rest was appropriate for some of those games. They get their full salary,” Silver said. “What these designations are essentially about, in addition to the respect and accolades that come from these designations, there are also financial consequences. And the feeling was the 65-game limit, playing 80 percent of games, seemed like a fair cutoff to be eligible.

“As a reminder, I think what gets confused in some circles is that we pay a fixed sum of money every year to 450 players. It’s 51 percent of the (basketball-related income). I think the only appropriate way to judge the effect of this rule is when this season is over, to see how that money is distributed. Then it’s a fair question to say was the outcome fair for everyone involved – including putting in place the appropriate incentives – to decide who gets bonuses and who doesn’t?”

While Silver didn’t mention Haliburton’s situation specifically, he went on to say that there may be individual cases that may seem unfair. However, he stressed that the league has seen a “significant” increase in the amount that All-Star caliber players are playing, which was the intended effect of the new rule.

“We don’t want to turn the clock back and put players in position where they’re playing injured, but we have an obligation to our fans for players to play as many games as they reasonably can,” Silver said.

Here are a few more highlights from Silver’s conversation with Powell:

• Silver, who indicated that the NBA reverted to the East vs. West format in this year’s All-Star game because it’s “what the fans wanted,” said that expanding All-Star rosters to 15 players (from 12) isn’t something the league is currently considering. “Part of the reason we’ve stayed at 12 is because it makes being an All-Star that much more special,” Silver said. “As you know, we just came through a collective bargaining cycle and (15-man All-Star rosters) were not high on anyone’s list. There’s a mutual interest with the teams and the players that being an All-Star remains that very special designation.”
• Although the NBA has introduced a G League franchise in Mexico City and has spoken in recent years about the possibility of expanding the NBA south of the border, Silver doesn’t view that as a likely outcome in the short term. “In terms of Mexico City, we’ve played many regular season games in a first-class arena there,” he said. “It’s the largest market in North America and there’s a huge Hispanic and Mexican American population in the U.S. A potential expansion in Mexico City is on our radar. It’s probably not going to happen in the next wave of expansion but I think over time it would be very realistic.”
• With a new media rights deal around the corner, the NBA wants to get feedback from its prospective TV partners before deciding on what changes it might make to the in-season tournament, according to Silver, who acknowledged that tiebreaker rules are one thing the league and players’ union will look at. “It’s too early to tell. I don’t want to make too many changes this quickly because people are just getting used to it,” the commissioner said. “Even the notion of a neutral site final four, we’ve only gone through one iteration of that. So, we’ll probably keep it roughly similar next season to get a better sense of whether that’s the right format.”
• Silver also spoke to Powell about the league-wide increase in scoring, the NBA’s next media rights deal, and the high number of recent team ownership changes, among other topics. You can check out the full conversation here.