Adam Silver speaks on load management, TV deal at NBA All-Star

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The NBA and the NationalBasketball Players Association clearly do not agree on everything,as evidenced by the fact that there’s no new Collective BargainingAgreement yet.

One thing they do agree on: A record-setting trade deadline thisseason is a good thing.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in his annual news conferencepreceding All-Star Saturday events that he felt the robust amountof player movement – 12 deals involving 24 teams and 49 players ontrade-deadline day, Feb. 9, alone – only speaks to how many teamsthink they can make deep playoff runs this season and ultimatelycompete for a title.

“It’s interesting also that we’ve had probably as much playermovement this year than at any time in our history,” Silver said.“And I think that speaks to teams, as we got close to the tradedeadline, trying to situate themselves in the best possibleposition to compete going into the playoffs. And in this case over10% of the entire league was moved roughly in the last week beforethe trade deadline.”

Among those traded leading up to the deadline: All-Stars KevinDurant and Kyrie Irving, both dealt by Brooklyn, with Durant goingto Phoenix and Irving to Dallas.

Not everyone believes that players are right to ask for trades.Durant said he believes it’s a good thing.

“It’s bringing more eyes to the league,” Durant said. “Morepeople are more excited. The tweets that I get, the news hits thatwe got from me being traded, Kyrie being traded, it just bringsmore attention to the league and that’s really what makes youmoney, is when you get more attention. I think it’s great for theleague, to be honest. Teams have been trading players and makingacquisitions for a long time. Now a player can dictate where hewants to go, leave in free agency or demand a trade, it’s just partof the game now.”

Irving asked for a trade shortly after it became evident thatthe Nets were not going to meet his expectations regarding acontract extension.

“I had a plan in place where I wanted to stay in Brooklyn longterm, be a Net. It was a dream come true for me,” Irving said.“Obviously, I wish things could have worked out for the best of allof us in terms of winning a championship and etching our names intohistory of the NBA. Those are big aspirations. It sounds easiersaid than done.”

NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio, speaking at a separatenews conference before Silver’s annual event, echoed the players’stance.

“Certainly the fact that we have seen so many trades just sortof signifies that, you know, people do believe that they can createa championship team,” Tremaglio said.

In other matters Silver addressed Saturday:

LABOR UPDATE

Talks between the NBA and NBPA are continuing with hopes ofgetting a new labor deal done. The sides have until March 31 todecide if either wants to opt out of the current deal on June 30;that deadline has already been moved twice and can be again, ifnecessary.

“It’s my hope that the deal will be done by then,” Silversaid.

Among the issues that the NBA and the NBPA have been discussingin recent weeks is a return to letting players enter the draftstraight out high school without waiting a year — that move isexpected to be included in the next CBA — along with what theleague considers an “upper spending limit” that would significantlytighten the rules on how much teams can spend each year on theirroster.

“Yes, it has been considered,” Tremaglio said of the spendinglimit. “And no, it is not acceptable.”

LOAD MANAGEMENT

There doesn’t seem to be much of an appetite for the NBA toabandon the traditional 82-game schedule, though injuries and loadmanagement leave fans going to games sometimes to learn uponarrival that their favorite players aren’t going to be in the gamethat night.

It has been an issue for years. The NBA has tried to make theschedule more player-friendly by lowering back-to-back games andeliminating stretches of four games in five days.

“It’s something that I don’t think we’re approaching in anadversarial way with the players association,” Silver said. “We’reworking collectively, together with our doctors, our datascientists and trying to see if there’s an optimal way for playerperformance. If it means at some point we conclude that we’rebetter off elongating the schedule ... that’s worth looking at. Ifwe thought it made sense to reduce the number of games wewould.”

TV DEAL

Silver said he isn’t concerned about the potential issue thatcould come if Diamond Sports Group — which owns several regionalsports networks, including 16 broadcasting for NBA teams — entersbankruptcy.

Diamond, the parent company of 19 Bally Sports networks, skippedabout $140 million in interest payments that were due Wednesday,starting a 30-day grace period that could be the prelude to abankruptcy filing.

“Short term, I’m not all that concerned,” Silver said. “Itlargely affects the regular season for the NBA in terms ofdistributing, delivering those games directly to our consumers. Andif they were to indeed, you know, file for bankruptcy, there won’tbe that much of the regular season left. For that period of time,we will have in place arrangements, if necessary, to continue todistribute those games to fans. So I think that’s what’s mostimportant.”

“I would say long term I’m not that concerned because there aremany other ways, platforms, including local over-the-airtelevision, streaming services, other methods, to bring those gameslinear and digitally directly to fans,” he added. “In the mid-term,it’s an issue we’re going to have to work through.”