{"id":590051,"date":"2026-04-17T16:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/590051\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:24:12","slug":"adam-silver-faces-a-critical-stretch-for-the-nbas-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/590051\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Silver Faces a Critical Stretch for the NBA\u2019s Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

In February, Adam Silver made his way to a podium inside the Intuit Dome, sporting a jet-black suit and a stoic look. Generally, the NBA commissioner\u2019s All-Star weekend press conferences are largely anticlimactic. A few factoids about the league\u2019s growth, updates on big-picture ventures, a midseason reminder that the NBA, if you didn\u2019t know, is a truly global league. Silver then usually bats around a few benign topics\u2014expansion, broadcast rights agreements and the latest with NBA Europe are old chestnuts\u2014before ducking out to enjoy the rest of the festivities. Yet as Silver walked across the room, he likely knew this session would go a little different<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The commissioner is in crisis, or at least these days he is facing crises, more than any Silver has confronted during his dozen years running the NBA. There\u2019s the cap circumvention scandal that has put him at odds with one of the NBA\u2019s most popular owners (Steve Ballmer), who also happens to be one of the world\u2019s richest men. There\u2019s the tanking epidemic<\/a>, a problem significant enough for the NBA to slap two teams (the Jazz and the Pacers) with six-figure fines<\/a> before the All-Star break for sitting healthy players. There\u2019s a federal investigation into illegal sports gambling<\/a> that has ensnared a current coach and a player (Portland\u2019s Chauncey Billups and former Miami guard Terry Rozier, both of whom have pleaded not guilty). There\u2019s the rise in injuries, apathy toward the in-season tournament, accusations that a team owner\u2019s business is producing critical hardware that has been used by the Russian military\u2009\u2026\u2009you get the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Silver has navigated turbulent waters before. In 2014, after tapes surfaced of then Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist comments, Silver, less than three months into his tenure as commissioner, banned Sterling for life. In 2020, the NBA was the first major sports league to shut down operations during the COVID-19 pandemic\u2009\u2026\u2009and the first Big Four league to find a way back, re-opening in the Florida bubble in July. He has negotiated two labor agreements, dealt swiftly with threats to game integrity and signed the most lucrative broadcast agreement in NBA history. Says one longtime team executive, \u201cAdam is one of the best commissioners in history. Not basketball history. Sports history.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NBA<\/p>\n

Michael Nagle\/Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The next few months could test that opinion. Silver must find tweaks for a draft lottery system that has failed to discourage tanking. He must adjudicate a Clippers investigation that has rivals screaming for blood. And he must find a solution to injury issues that have plagued the regular season. It is, says one high-ranking team executive, \u201can opportunity.\u201d While the ink is still wet on the 11-year, $77 billion broadcast rights deal that kicked in this season, it\u2019s never too early to think about the next one. \u201cGetting this stuff right is his legacy,\u201d says the exec. Adds another, \u201cThis summer Adam is going to be very busy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In March, Warriors coach Steve Kerr reiterated a long-standing position: The NBA\u2019s schedule is too long. \u201cI know this will not be a popular opinion in the league office,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cBut I will continue to say it because it\u2019s obvious. We need to play fewer games.\u201d Other coaches echoed Kerr\u2019s assessment. \u201cThe season is so demanding,\u201d says Bulls coach Billy Donovan. \u201cYou have got to build up this callous to be able to endure 82 games [with] very limited practice time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the NBA might deny that there is an injury problem\u2014according to data provided by the NBA in March, the league was tracking to have fewer injuries to starter-level players than last season and less games lost to \u201cstars\u201d in any of the last four years\u2014there is no disputing that concern over soft tissue injuries is on the rise.<\/p>\n

During the 2025 playoffs, three All-Stars\u2014Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard\u2014ruptured their Achilles tendons. This season calf strains have led to extended layoffs for Victor Wembanyama, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A spate of injuries to stars like Tyrese Haliburton late in an arduous season has been an issue for the NBA. | Justin Ford\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The speed of the game, which has increased in recent years, has reached a breakneck pace. Ten years ago, two teams averaged more than 100 possessions per game. At the All-Star break this season, there were 18. By March, players had combined to cover 37.1 miles per game at an average speed of 4.29 mph, the longest average distance and fastest average speed since player tracking began in the 2013\u201314 season. Kerr, among others, believes slicing 10 games off the schedule will make a significant difference. \u201cWhat I know about the league and coaching and how hard it is to play with the pace and the space,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would be a more competitive and healthier league if we played fewer games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Privately, NBA officials won\u2019t argue against the merits of a shorter season. They will note\u2014quickly\u2014how much money would have to be forfeited to allow for it. Fewer games played means less revenue\u2014roughly 20% by some estimates. The broadcast deals would need to be adjusted. All of it would have to be collectively bargained (the players and the league have a mutual opt-out in 2028). There is a long-term gain in shortening the season: Fewer games, theoretically, would make for a better product, making the league more valuable\u2014if everyone is willing to absorb some short-term pain along the way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That matters, given how teams are treating the regular season. In February, in front of a packed room at MIT\u2019s annual Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Silver vowed to act decisively to curb tanking. \u201cWe are going to make substantial changes for next year,\u201d said Silver. \u201cI\u2019m not ruling anything out.\u201d Despite years of efforts to disincentivize the practice\u2014which included flattening the lottery odds for the bottom three teams and creating the play-in tournament\u2014the race to the bottom was more crowded than ever this season, with nearly a third of NBA teams exiting the All-Star break with no interest in winning. Said Silver, \u201cWe have to address it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

How is the question. Silver, by his own admission, is \u201can incrementalist,\u201d so forget grand ideas like eliminating the draft. Internally, league officials have discussed more modest solutions, like eliminating draft-pick protections (which would prevent situations like Utah and Indiana, two teams that nose-dived this season to hang on to picks) and banning teams from drafting in the top four for two years in a row.<\/p>\n

\"Utah\u2019s<\/p>\n

Utah\u2019s dismal play earned the team a $500,000 fine for sitting healthy players during its third straight 50-loss season. | Soobum Im\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Some think the league can go further. Flattening the lottery odds was a good idea\u2009\u2026\u2009until teams with small odds started winning it. Last spring, Dallas, with a 1.8% chance to land the top overall pick, saw its Ping-Pong ball combination come up. San Antonio, with a 26.3% chance of finishing in the top four, grabbed the second pick. Instead of chasing play-in spots, teams have grown increasingly comfortable rolling the dice from the back of the lottery pack, leading to calls to eliminate the lottery altogether<\/a>. \u201cWe have to make sure the worst teams are getting the best players,\u201d says a league official with Silver\u2019s ear. \u201cYou are never going to stop a small number of teams from tanking. The best you can do is make sure those teams have a pathway to get better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting organizations to play by the rules is the most pressing issue. Accusations that the Clippers used a team sponsor to circumvent the salary cap with Kawhi Leonard landed in the league office like a grenade. Cap circumvention is a \u201ccardinal sin\u201d says a team executive, citing the efforts the NBA has made in Silver\u2019s tenure to level the playing field. Months of follow-up reporting from investigative journalist Pablo Torre (nine YouTube episodes and counting) have dashed any hope that the story would go away, laying bare a pile of emails, bank records and testimony for all to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2014, Ballmer helped Silver end one scandal when he bought the Clippers from Sterling. Now, Silver is faced with having to punish Ballmer to end another.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Clippers<\/p>\n

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer\u2019s alleged salary cap circumvention is one of the key issues the league has to deal with. | Kevork Djansezian\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all dark clouds. Financially, the league is healthier than it\u2019s ever been. After years of flirting with European expansion, the NBA is poised to establish a league that will give it a firm foothold in the Eastern Hemisphere. Silver is pressing ahead with plans to add two new teams\u2014Las Vegas and Seattle are the front-runners\u2014that are expected to generate expansion fees in the neighborhood of $10 billion apiece. The NBA is strong, league and team officials will argue. Addressing these big issues will make it stronger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Silver has already resolved one. At February\u2019s press conference, Silver recalled a recent conversation with Bob Cousy. The Hall of Fame guard\u201497 and still kicking\u2014marveled at how global the NBA has become. In the 1950\u201351 season, Cousy\u2019s first, the league had two international players. Today, the number is 135. It\u2019s among the reasons Silver believed a new All-Star format\u2014dubbed USA vs. the World\u2014could work. The result was the most competitive game in years. So, check that one off what is becoming a very long list.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

More NBA From Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n

Listen to SI\u2019s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple<\/a> and Spotify<\/a>. Watch the show on SI\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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