Adam Silver

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has finalized a contract extension that will keep him in his current role through the 2023/24 season, according to a press release from the NBA.

Silver, who became the NBA’s commissioner in February 2014, previously served as the league’s deputy commissioner and chief operating officer under David Stern.

The NBA has enjoyed a period of significant growth under Silver’s guidance. The league agreed to a record-breaking TV contract salary cap during Silver’s first year as commissioner, and the salary cap – which came in at approximately $58.7MM at the time of Silver’s promotion – is poised to surpass the $100MM mark for the first time for the 2018/19 season.

Silver’s new extension figures to keep him under contract through the end of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. The current CBA – which took effect last summer – technically runs for 10 years, but the NBA and the players’ union will have an opportunity to opt out of the agreement in 2024.

11:41am: Adam Silver has issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision, as our Chris Crouse tweets.

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court opens the door for states to pass laws legalizing sports betting,” Silver said. “We remain in favor of a federal framework that would provide a uniform approach to sports gambling in states that choose to permit it, but we will remain active in ongoing discussions with state legislatures. Regardless of the particulars of any future sports betting law, the integrity of our game remains our highest priority.”

9:30am: The United States Supreme Court has voted in favor of overturning a federal ban on sports gambling, tweets ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. The full decision from the Supreme Court can be found right here.

As Windhorst details (via Twitter), the ruling states that Congress will have the power to regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each U.S. state is free to make its own laws, which is the expected outcome.

The Supreme Court’s decision came in response to a case brought by the state of New Jersey, which is now one of four states prepared to institute laws for legalized sports betting. The other three states are West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi, according to Windhorst, who adds that about 20 other states are in line to follow suit.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been a proponent of legalized sports betting for several years. As Michael Scotto of The Athletic detailed last week, Silver is aware that hundreds of billions of dollars are being bet illegally on the NBA, and feels it’s in the league’s best interest to have a voice in how that betting is regulated. As we noted earlier this year, the NBA also reportedly wants to receive a 1% share of each bet placed on one of its games.

“One of our issues is that because we are the producers of this intellectual property, the NBA will spend $7.5 billion this year creating this product, and because we’re going to have all these additional costs involving integrity we should be compensated in some way for the use of our property,” Silver said recently, per Scotto.

While it remains to be seen exactly how the NBA – and other sports leagues – will get involved in legalized betting and how each U.S. state will handle it, today’s Supreme Court decision could signal a landmark shift in how many fans consume and engage with sports.

For more on what today’s decision means, check out an FAQ from David Purdum and Ryan Rodenberg of ESPN.com.

With a competitive race to the bottom of the NBA standings taking shape, the concept of tanking has been in the news a little too much for the league’s liking as of late, prompting commissioner Adam Silver to remind teams of the NBA’s stance. As Sam Amick of USA Today details, Silver sent a memo to all 30 teams last week on the same day that he issued a $600K fine to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for his public comments on tanking.

Within his memo, Silver noted that the NBA has been “careful to distinguish” between genuine rebuilding efforts and instances in which players or coaches make any effort to lose games. While the former is described by Silver as a “legitimate strategy to construct a successful team,” he reiterates that the latter has “no place” in the NBA.

“If we ever received evidence that players or coaches were attempting to lose or otherwise taking steps to cause any game to result otherwise than on its competitive merits, that conduct would be met with the swiftest and harshest response possible from the league office,” Silver said.

Tanking is generally perceived as a strategy dictated by team management, rather than players or coaches. While players would never deliberately try to lose a game, roster and lineup decisions coming from above can make winning an uphill battle for those same players. Silver’s memo stresses that the “integrity of the competition on the playing court” is his primary concern, and he wants to avoid even the perception that it’s compromised in any way.

“We have no basis at this time to conclude that the Mavericks team is giving anything less than its best effort on the court, and Mark has assured us that this is not the case,” Silver said in the memo, referring to Cuban. “But even a suggestion that such conduct could be occurring is obviously damaging to our game, as it creates a perception of impropriety. It is also extraordinarily unfair to the players and coaches who are, in fact, competing at their highest possible level every night. You are therefore advised to avoid such statements, and to pass along this admonition to all other key personnel in your organizations.

“We will continue to monitor closely the play of all teams during the remainder of the season,” Silver concluded.

Commissioner Adam Silver says travel concerns are the biggest obstacle to overhauling the NBA’s playoff format, relays Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Silver addressed the topic in his annual All-Star Weekend news conference, saying the league office has studied the possibility of eliminating East and West designations and throwing all the playoff teams into one 16-team field.

“I think, as I’ve said in the past, the obstacle is travel, and it’s not tradition in my mind, at least,” Silver explained. “Having said that, you also would like to have a format where your two best teams are ultimately going to meet in The Finals, and obviously, if it’s the top team in the East and top team in the West, I’m not saying this is the case this year, but you could have a situation where the top two teams in the league are meeting in the conference finals or somewhere else.”

It’s not a change Silver could make on his own, as any significant alterations to the playoff format have to be approved by at least 20 franchises. But it’s a topic the commissioner has addressed before, and his decision to devote so much time to it today could be a sign that it’s still being strongly considered.

Silver covered a lot of ground in today’s press conference. Here are a few other topics he addressed:

• The NBA is waiting to hear from an NCAA-appointed commission headed by former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice regarding possible changes to the “one-and-done” rule that requires players to be at least one year past their high school graduation date before they can enter the draft. The commission’s report is expected this spring.
• Silver called today’s meeting between representatives of the players’ and referees’ unions “a successful first step.” He addressed the participants at the meeting and said it should help to open lines of communication. “I think it’s fantastic and a great statement about this league that these important stakeholders in this case, our players and the officials, think it’s important enough and they have an obligation to the game where they should be sitting down and talking to each other,” Silver added.
• The G League will expand to 27 teams next season, and Silver’s goal is a full 30-team league where each NBA club has a direct affiliate, adds Tim Cato of SB Nation. Silver noted that about 40 percent of players currently in the NBA have spent time in the G League.
• If the Supreme Court legalizes sports betting later this year, the NBA will be ready. The league has taken proactive steps to prepare and is hoping to take in 1 percent of all profits off the wagering. “It’s what our view of a model bill was, but we’re happy to sit with legislators and talk about what the best system would be,” Silver said.