Here's What Adam Silver Said At Wednesday's Board Of Governors Press Conference
The NBA's 75th anniversary celebration has been a huge success thus far and the 2021-22 season has been full of great basketball being played.
However, the league and commissioner Adam Silver are always working to try and find ways to not only make the spectacle better, but grow the NBA’s following as well.
Future Of The Play-In Tournament:
Following the NBA Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday, Adam Silver held a press conference to go over several key topics pertaining to the league, most notably the Play-In Tournament and the recent chatter on social media surrounding it.
When asked about wanting to continue the Play-In Tournament past this season, Silver was very clear on both his and the league’s intentions moving forward.
“It is something we talked about continuing beyond this season. We’re very pleased with what we’re seeing so far,” Silver said. “As I mentioned before, when examining it we were very focused on the actual Play-In games themselves, and what we’re seeing is a far greater impact essentially on the last month of the season where teams are either jockeying to get into the Play-In Tournament itself or jockeying to get out of the Play-In Tournament with a locked-in sixth seed.”
“We’re pleased with it. There may be a need to tweak it additionally. We’ll see how it goes this year, but I think it’s going to become a fixture in this league.”
The Play-In Tournament has definitely been a big success for the league thus far, especially given how engaged fans have been with the league standings and teams that may not get much attention in previous years near the end of each season.
Canada Vaccination Policy To Affect Playoffs?
In regards to the Play-In Tournament, there has been a lot of talk surrounding the Toronto Raptors in recent weeks given that they have been in and out of the Play-In region of the standings and since Canada has strict vaccination rules.
The Raptors have clinched a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but this still does not change the fact that unvaccinated player are not allowed to travel with their team to Toronto in a potential playoff series.
In response to a question about Canada’s vaccination laws and potential “conflict” the NBA could run into, Adam Silver said that the league is prepared to operate as they have over the last several months in regards to vaccine policies in cities and states.
“I’m not sure if I’d refer to it as a conflict. I mean, we have no choice but to operate under the laws of the jurisdictions in which we play,” Silver told reporters. “In some cases, as we saw here in New York City, those are city ordinances. In other cases, they’re state. And in the case of Toronto, there are Canadian issues that we have to comply with. Those rules are well known to all players, and for any player who chooses not to get vaccinated, they know they are at risk of not being allowed to play in Toronto. That’s the facts that we’re all going to have to operate under.”
One key topic the commissioner did bring up during his press conference was the fact that it is a “concern” to see star players sitting out and not playing a full 82-game season.
Whether it is creating new incentives for players or a change of format to the season, the NBA does seem determined to find “common ground” with the NBPA in the offseason on this matter. The idea of a potential in-season tournament was also brought up by Silver on Wednesday afternoon.
Potential Changes To Replay Review And "Take Foul":
Both the play-in tournament and vaccination policies were two main topics Adam Silver addressed on Wednesday, as was the idea of the “take foul” and replay review in the NBA.
“There was a discussion on take fouls. Byron Spruell is here, president of basketball operations. That is something, as you know, we’re very focused on and considering making a change for next season,” Silver told the media in response to what was discussed at the Board of Governors meeting.
“We still have some work to do with our competition committee. We’ll be meeting with the board again in July, which would be a possible time to change that rule. But as we’re seeing sort of a pretty dramatic increase in take fouls, we don’t think it’s a great part of our game.”
What changes the NBA and NBPA look to make in the future are unknown at this time, but it does appear that both player health and participation, as well as the topic of “take fouls” will be widely discussed this upcoming offseason.
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