SAN FRANCISCO — Commissioner Adam Silver stated the NBA is contemplating switching the voting course of for All-NBA picks every season from the present position-based system to 1 the place voters choose the 15 finest gamers, no matter place.
Silver stated he plans to deal with it with the Nationwide Basketball Gamers Affiliation.
“By way of determinations for All-NBA, I feel a good quantity of consideration goes into whether or not [the media] ought to simply be choosing prime gamers than be choosing by place,” Silver stated at a information convention forward of Sport 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday. “I feel we’re a league that has moved more and more towards position-less basketball, and the present system could lead to some inequities primarily based on the happenstance of what your place is.
“So that’s one thing we’re. It is one thing that we are going to talk about with the gamers affiliation as a result of it has an effect on incentives and gamers contracts, and it has,, deep which means for his or her legacy as properly. So we’ll have a look at these issues.”
The subject of whether or not the poll ought to proceed to be decided by positions has picked up steam over the previous two years, as two facilities — Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers — completed 1-2 in MVP voting. However due to the present system, solely considered one of them has the flexibility to be an All-NBA First Crew participant, whereas the opposite — in each instances, Embiid — must be a second-team choice.
Silver additionally stated there might be extra discussions about whether or not contract bonuses might be tied to media awards voting, however he added that either side have agreed that it’s the better of a sequence of imperfect choices.
“In terms of the ultimate selection process and, to your point that in some cases can have a direct financial impact on a player’s contract, right now we agreed with the players association to use those designations to trigger certain bonuses in players’ contracts, frankly because we couldn’t come up with a better way that would feel objective to everyone involved,” Silver said.
Throughout his roughly 30-minute session with reporters, Silver touched on a number of topics:
• Both the NBA and NBPA have the ability to opt-out of the current collective bargaining agreement in December ahead of it expiring next summer. It was a similar situation the last time the deal was up in 2017, with both sides agreeing to a new deal in December 2016 before the opt-out date arrived.
Silver said it was his hope a similar blueprint would be followed this time around, but said it was a bit too early to say that would be the case, given in part he’s still getting to know the newly appointed executive director of the NBPA, Tamika Tremaglio.
“I think we all know that for any negotiation, seemingly collective bargaining in particular, deadlines are really helpful to get people to push their best offers across the table,” Silver said.
Silver added that all of the discussions both sides have had over the past two-and-a-half years over everything that’s gone on because of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to them talking more than ever before, which helped increase his belief of a deal being agreed to amicably once again.
• Silver said the idea of a midseason tournament remains on the table, though is not yet finalized, as more discussions with the NBPA are required.
In addition, when asked about players dealing with wear-and-tear on their bodies over the course of an 82-game regular season, Silver said he’d potentially be open to discussions of shortening the season — but only if it could be proven to help mitigate injuries.
“As I have said before, what we don’t see is increased numbers of injuries as the season goes on,” Silver said. “It’s not as if because of fatigue over the course of a season, you see more injuries. We do see a connection between actual fatigue, for example, from back-to-backs or three in a row. We think that potentially can lead to more injuries.”
• As he has in the past, Silver shot down the idea of expansion happening in the near-term, though he reiterated it is something that the league will do again at some point. He went on to say one potential issue is the dilution of talent as a result of expansion.
“Even sort of adding another 30 players or so that are roughly comparable, there still are only so many of the truly top-tier super talents to go around,” Silver said. “That is something on the mind of the other teams as we think about expansion.”
• Silver said the NBA has lost “hundreds of millions” because of its strained relationship with China, and said that is an acceptable cost of doing business when it comes to protecting free speech of the league’s players, coaches and workers.
“We accept that, and I said that at the time when we said we stand behind our players and team executives, their right to free expression, whether about issues in the United States or issues any place in the world, if those are the consequences, that’s what I mean that our values travel with us,” Silver said. “Others, as you know, since then have spoken out about their views around China and other places in the world, and if the consequences are that we’re taken off the air or we lose money, we accept that.”
Silver also said he continues to believe engaging with China is not inconsistent with the league’s values in light of alleged human-rights violations taking place within the country.
• Silver was asked about women being far away becoming head coaches in the NBA and ackowledged it remains a work in progress. He said Becky Hammon’s move from Spurs assistant to head coach of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces shouldn’t be seen as a negative thing.
“But I’ve said it before, and I should have said earlier, there is no reason that women shouldn’t be head coaches and more of them shouldn’t be assistant coaches in the NBA,” Silver said. “There’s no reason why there shouldn’t be more women officials. We have made progress in both those areas around the league now. There are a lot more female assistants at our teams, but we do have to break through that glass ceiling.”
Silver also said the NBA increasing its number of Black coaches to 15, with the hiring of Darvin Ham by the Los Angeles Lakers last month a product of the league continuing to emphasize the need for diversity.
• When asked whether a positive test for COVID-19 next year would mean a player would be unable to play, Silver said that recommendation would come from medical personnel, and that it was too early to say, adding that the NBA is only a small part of the world in terms of learning how to live with the virus moving forward.
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