As he does at All-Star weekend every year, Adam Silver made himself available to the media on Saturday and took questions on a wide variety of subjects.
His answers, unfortunately, weren’t very effective.
There was no reasonable explanation for why the hammer was dropped on the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers and not the dozens of other teams that have tanked in recent years.
There was no concrete information on the Kawhi Leonard, Aspiration and the alleged cap circumvention situation (which is probably fine, given the “ongoing investigation” excuse, but it was still a letdown).
His answer on the recent revelation that Giannis Antetokounmpo—one of the league’s marquee players and one whose status was a significant subject of prediction markets—is personally and financially invested in a prediction market was, as Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wolken described it, “mealy mouthed.”
Silver also threatened to strip draft picks from tanking teams, which feels wildly unfair, given how instrumental the strategy was in teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder hoarding elite talent.
All in all, the press conference did little to assuage concerns over Silver’s performance in recent years, something he could’ve used during a weekend when the stands were, at best, half full for the Rising Stars game and All-Star Saturday Night, and when Saturday and Sunday’s events were bumped to afternoon start times by Winter Olympic reruns.