NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sat down for an exclusive interview with “Numbers on the Board”— the breakout podcast hosted by Kenny Beecham and Pierre Andresen, and cleared up some common misconceptions about his as a commissioner, amongst other topics.
The show, which is known for their massive Gen Z and Gen Alpha NBA audience, provided rare access to Silver in a raw, long-form format (and even rarer for Silver to be speaking directly to a 16-to-22 year-old audience, one that increasingly shapes the culture of the NBA), the conversation went deep on league evolution, load management and media coverage—reflecting the growing legitimacy of content creators as key storytellers in the NBA ecosystem.
Silver also chatted a bit about the biggest misconception people have about him being a commissioner. “That I have the right to block a trade,” Silver chuckled, obviously referencing some of the biggest/most unexpected trades that have occurred during his tenure—most recently, Luka Doncic’s trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Silver continued: “The way a trade comes to the league office…it’s a little bit of old technology. They [the teams] call it in…I’ve analogized it to if you’ve ever bought a house where they have a closing, and you have to line up all the documents, ensure the person has good deed and title on the home and everything is in-order, insurance is in-order, mortgage is ready to be signed…When a trade takes place, there’s largely lawyers in the league office that line up the contracts, make sure you have the cap space that you say you do, make sure that the players contract allows for him to be traded, etc…”
“But that is our only role in a trade,” he emphasized. “We don’t get to weigh in whether we think it’s a good trade or not…and there was a high profile trade recently this season. A lot of fans and fans on social media said, ‘The league should have vetoed that trade.’ It’s not my right. I’m allowed my own opinions on trades, which I don’t always share, but I certainly don’t have the right as a commissioner to step in and tell a team what’s in its best interest.”
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Some of the other topics discussed include: the NBA’s new broadcast partners, Silver’s favorite NBA moments growing up and more.
You can check out the full interview here.
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