Changes, small or large, loom in league’s future
LAS VEGAS — As much as NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was pleased with the state of the league, including the “dominance” of the Golden State Warriors, change seems to be coming.
Some of that change, particularly to rules that could address competitive balance, remained in the discussion stage. But if it reaches the league’s salary system, as he said could eventually be considered, that change would be more profound.
Others, such as the age requirement, seemed certain. Another, the traditional midnight (Eastern) start of free agency that keeps league executives and fans up all night each July 1, he said was destined for a modification to something more “reasonable.”
Silver sounded ambivalent about a need to make changes to the playoff format.
“The most significant obstacle to seeding one through 16, as appealing as that would be to me and I think a lot of fans, is the dramatic increase in travel that would follow,” Silver said. “Our estimates are that if we seed one through 16, we could be looking at roughly 40 to 50 percent more travel and could affect teams disproportionately those on the coasts than those in the middle of the country.
“We spent a lot of time the last few years trying to spread out back-to-backs, reduce the number of back-to-backs to reduce the amount of fatigue on players. Obviously, if we were to make that change it would work in the other direction.”
Silver said that would require “a wholesale change” in formats, scheduling and broadcast agreements, but said “it has a real appeal to ownership and I know it does to fans.”
But Silver did not express any urgency to make changes to the system to create greater parity, an issue that has received greater attention since DeMarcus Cousins joined the Warriors giving them five All-Stars from last season, the most for one team to start since the Boston Celtics in the 1976-77 season.
“The question is, are there ways to enhance competition based on creating sort of a more level playing field?” Silver said. “Those are the kinds of models we continue to look at. I’m very confident that if we put the best basketball minds to work there are ways we can create more competition league-wide.”
He had cited the league’s “very soft cap” but did not suggest he would seek a more stringent salary cap in the next collective bargaining, a notion that would likely lead to a fight.
Michele Roberts, who was reelected as executive director of the NBPA on Tuesday, did not expect to get a call seeking changes, saying “the league is in good shape.”
“Michele is not going to get a call from me complaining about competitive balance,” Silver said. “I think it’s on me and our labor relations committee ultimately to get with the players and their committee to convince them there may be a better way to do things. I’m not here to say we have a problem and I love where the league is right now. We can create a better system.”
There seemed more agreement about the change to the age requirement, with Roberts saying a decision coming in “the next few months.” That could be in place by the 2021 draft.
“We should take a seriously look at lowering our age (requirement) to 18,” Silver said.
The easiest change could be to the starting time for free agency.
“As I get older and the people I grew up with get older every day, I think we’re all tired of allnighters,” Silver said. “It’s something we can change for next year. It’s one of those things everybody always looks at each other, ‘Why it’s always been that way.’ … There’s so much interest in it, having it happen at a more reasonable time would be better for coverage.”