Adam Silver, who last January agreed to a contract extension that will keep him in the NBA commissioner’s office through the end of the decade, begins his next term with … nothing to do. “There’s a lot to do,” insists Silver, chuckling. True, running a multibillion-dollar sports league with its tentacles everywhere around the globe is a full-time job. But Silver begins his 11th year as commissioner with the biggest agenda items already taken care of. Last year the league and the players union ratified a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement. In July, the NBA finalized a new broadcast rights deal, an 11-year, $77 billion windfall that will kick in next season. For the time being, it looks like clear sailing ahead.
Silver will happily acknowledge that, structurally, the NBA is in as good a place as it has been in ages. “Not just in my time as commissioner,” Silver says. “But in my [32] years at the league.” Parity, a decades-long dream of the NBA, has been achieved. Over the last six seasons, the league has crowned six different champions, with not so much as a back-to-back finalist. The CBA has choked off the ability of large-market teams to spend their way to success. “It goes more to how the team is built rather than to the outcome,” Silver says. “We want teams to be rewarded for drafting well and developing players well.”
