Camila Sosa
With the regular season coming to an end, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, spoke at a press conference after the end of the meetings with the owners/governors committee this past Wednesday in New York City, and expressed several of his current concerns within the league, but the one he emphasized the most was the number of games that star players of various teams have lost this season.
”I’m not standing here saying I have a great solution. Part of the issue is injuries. One of the things we have focused on at the league office and we’re spending – we had begun to spend a lot of time on pre-pandemic – are there things we can do in terms of sharing information, resources around the league to improve best practices, rehabilitation?
The other way we can get at it, in terms of player participation, is creating other incentives. The play-in tournament, I thought, was a beginning of creating renewed incentives for teams to remain competitive and be fighting for playoff position. It might be through in-season tournaments and changes in format where we can get at it.”
Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, on the trend of star players missing a high number of games.
Silver has been very happy with the play-in tournament that was implemented starting with the 2019-2020 campaign, and the format will most likely endure although it is not exempt from possible modifications in the future. As a possible solution to the problem of absenteeism among the NBA’s current stars, the commissioner also touched again on the topic of reducing the number of games in the regular season.
“If we have too many games, that’s something we should look at as well. It’s something, as we sit down and we’re looking at new media deals and looking at a new collective bargaining agreement, we will be studying. From my discussions with players, they recognise it’s an issue, too. The style of the game has changed in terms of the impact on their bodies. I think we’ve got to constantly assess and look at a marketplace going forward and say, what’s the best way to present our product and over how long a season?”
Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, on the possibility of reducing the number of games in the regular season.
At the same time, Silver also commented on the latest NBA legal issues (Ben Simmons’ lawsuit against the Philadelphia 76ers, labor cases within the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks) and clarified he had no updates on them, nor any extra involvement so far from the league. Lastly, he stated that he will soon evaluate Utah’s participation as host of the next All-Star Game following the passage of a law in the state that goes against the rights of the LGBTQ community.
This season, stars such as Kawhi Leonard and Zion Williamson have not played in any games as they continue to rehab from injuries suffered last season. Ben Simmons has not participated in any games either due to the internal problems he suffered with the Sixers since last postseason, while Kyrie Irving has accumulated only 27 games after being ineligible to play at home for the Brooklyn Nets for most of the season due to not having vaccinated against COVID-19.
Similarly, players like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Ja Morant and many others are franchise players who do not reach the amount of 60 games played in the current season (which is made up of 82 games in total). This is exactly what Adam Silver is referring to with his concern about the stars being consistently absent in recent years.
What is the best solution for the NBA? Is shortening the season the right answer?
