Stern gone, but stricter days could be ahead for NBA

Will he be able to make that case? Can they make more money while also making the game better? The answer to that question will be spelled out over the next

Ian Thomsen | Feb 15, 2014

Stern gone, but stricter days could be ahead for NBA /

New NBA commissioner Adam Silver eyes stricter salary cap rules, further evening the playing field. — New NBA commissioner Adam Silver eyes stricter salary cap rules, further evening the playing field :: Christian Petersen/NBAE/Getty Images

Will he be able to make that case? Can they make more money while also making the game better? The answer to that question will be spelled out over the next few years, and whether Silver can build on a strong first impression.

Published Feb 15, 2014

IAN THOMSEN

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Ian Thomsen, who joined the magazine in 1998, is one of SI's top basketball scribes. Along with writing columns and features for SI, Thomsen is a frequent contributor to SI.com. Before joining SI, Thomsen spent six years in Europe as the sports columnist for the International Herald Tribune, the world's largest international English-language daily. While at the paper Thomsen wrote about an array of sports for a global audience, including the major world and European soccer tournaments, the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games, Ryder Cups, Grand Slam tennis events, Grand Prix auto races and, very rarely, cricket. Thomsen, who graduated from Northwestern with a journalism degree in 1983, was a feature writer for The National Sports Daily during its short, expensive run of 1990-91. His first job was with The Boston Globe, where he covered Doug Flutie's Boston College Eagles and all three of the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals of the 1980s. Thomsen was a feature writer at SI before taking on the NBA beat fulltime in 2000. With Luis Fernando Llosa and Melissa Segura, Thomsen covered the 2001 scandal of overaged Little League pitcher Danny Almonte and wrote the first SI cover story on Kobe Bryant in 1998. Thomsen lives with his wife and two children near Boston.