Club Shay Shay - Club 520 - Adam Silver on Luka Doncic to Lakers trade, NBA Draft, All-Star Game changes

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

We’re back with Season 3, Episode 70 of Club 520, where Jeff Teague and the guys are joined by Adam Silver, who talks about his journey to becoming NBA commissioner, what NBA Draft night means to all the incoming players, fixing the NBA All-Star Game, as well as reacting to the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. #Volume #ClubSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume This show is a blast. It's hilarious. It's personal and it seems like it has no limits. Make some noise as loud as you can for Jeff Teague, B Hinn and DJ Wells, host of the Club 520 Podcast. Make some noise. Get yourself some draws. Get yourself some draws. There you go. Make some noise. Get some draws. Hit them in the back, B Hinn. Back there in the back, B-Hand. There you go, yes sir.

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, Fnaticx, how y'all doing? How y'all doing? What up, what up, what up, what up? Yeah, learn this energy. Y'all know what the time of the year is at this club, 520. I'm your host, my name is DJ Wells. Live at Fanatics, man.

One time for Boost Mode, we know the vibes. $25 unlimited talk, text that or what they at with a T? 5G nationwide, y'all know what time it is. Come on man, tap in, get you a phone, man. Still got my gang with me up here to my far left. We got my dog, Bishop B, hittin' out the Pearlies. How you doing, nasty? What's happening, what up, heading out to Pearlies, how you what, Nasty? What's happening, what up, Fanatics?

My boy, what's up, baby? What up, what up? Tapped in for sure, to my right, my dog, young Nacho, young Teague, how you what? What's good, we got a good one today. Got a good one today. Come on, man, listen, man, we got a special, special guest, man.

We couldn't imagine that we would have this gentleman on our platform, but it's a blessing. We about to have a dope conversation. We happy to share this moment with y'all. We have the one, the only, the commission, Mr. Adam Silver. Join the 520, make some noise! Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Let's go, let's go. Yes, sir. It's a pleasure, it's a pleasure. Thank you, Adam. Boss man.

Hello. Yeah, energy, energy, I love this. Wow. First and foremost, we want to say thank you. We appreciate you joining us, sir. How you doing? I'm doing great. This is incredible. I mean, for the fans, this must be fantastic.

Just the whole environment here. I mean, congratulations to Michael Rubin. I can't believe what he's built. For sure, for sure. Listen, this is a blessing to have you on this stage. Obviously, you know what I'm saying? T, you got to walk across that stage. But for me to be here, it's our draft night moment, baby.

We got to do this. The real draft night. I don't know. Yeah, I didn't walk across the stage. I didn't go to the draft. But I got a chance to hear my name called. It was pretty cool. Let's go. You got a championship ring, though. Yeah but I got a chance to hear my name called. It was pretty cool. Let's go.

You got a championship ring though. Yeah, I got a championship ring. That's better than being drafted. Yeah. Talk about it. I snuck out of there with one. Now, I wanted to ask you this question because everybody's moment, you know,

is their dream to get across to NBA, shake your hand and hold a jersey. What was it like for you the first time that you got to be in that position and host the draft as the commissioner? It was, it's emotional for me, it still is because, you know, for that moment to come into the NBA for these players and just as importantly for their families. So when you're standing up on stage, particularly for, you know, the top draft picks who are

sitting there right in front of you, you're staring off in it, their parents, their siblings, their friends. So it's truly emotional. I mean, I feel it along with them. And then when the guys come up on stage, I mean, obviously these are some of the best athletes in the world. They've already performed at a high level in college, in Europe, or whatever else. Like when I put my arm on them and I shake their hand they're often you can feel how nervous

they are you know it's it's such and and I think it's just a lot of them been holding in the emotion and it's just a release because even if you're projected to be the fifth pick or the fourth but whatever it is the reality of that actually happening so I'm just saying like I'm holding it together too for a lot of them it's just and and it's I'll just saying, like, I'm holding it together, too, for a lot of them. And I'll just add it, it's a privilege to be up there. I don't have any particular talent, you know, unlike a player.

So I realize I'm fortunate to be part of the experience. Who was the first player you introduced to the NBA? I said, who was the first person you introduced to the NBA? What was your first pick? Oh, man, I got to think about that, because, you know, I was the first person you introduced to the NBA like what was your first pick? Oh man, I got to think about that because you know, I was the deputy commissioner for several years and did the second round as well So I got to think about that. I can't remember who I wanted to ask you this question obviously, you know legal background worked in the NBA as well Recipes obviously are like great, David Stern. What was that moment like when you

found out that you were going to be the commissioner? Oh man, I mean, I again, I just remember feeling how fortunate I was. I had, at that point, I had already worked for the league for 20 years. Yes sir. At the time I found out I had already worked for the league for 20 years. At the time I found out I'd worked for David Stern that entire time so I had a seat in the room so to speak for a lot of that had transpired over that time and I again I worked hard but the same time I realized it takes a fair amount of luck to be in the right place at the right time. I saw it as tremendous responsibility to carry this league forward off of all those great players

that had come before me, great commissioners, you know, David Stern being the most recent. So, you know, it was momentous. There's no question about it, but, you know, it takes a while to sink in. You just, again, just, and I still feel that even 11 years later, just it's an awesome responsibility because in addition to the literally hundreds of millions of fans globally that for the players, their families, the tens of thousands of employees of the NBA, and now the WNBA that we're part of, you feel the weight of the responsibility. And in this league, I mean, there's incredible things

that happen every day, but there's also things that are risk to the business. And it's ultimate responsibility, working together with the players, with the team owners, to make sure the league continues to operate smoothly. So I would say I'm awestruck but also feel that sense of responsibility. Most definitely. I got a question.

We were talking about draft night and you being up there calling names and it's been some nights where guys names didn't get called in that first round. What's that feeling like? Do you ever be like man? I just hope hope this kid gets called because obviously I didn't go to the green room. But that was a scary feeling for me to be in the green room and not get my name called. And we had some guys go super, super late in the first round

and be the last guy in the green room. What's that feeling? You know, it happens occasionally where there is a player who's projected to go higher and drops for whatever reason. And often often in some cases in between picks I'll walk down and just say hello to the player and their family. We have a luncheon the day of the draft so I've talked to them and I see them before

the draft. But also just to remind them that nobody can predict the future. That, I mean, I think about, you know, I mean, our MVP in Shea, I forget, I don't know, he was like the 11th pick or whatever. He wasn't a top 10 pick. Um, Tyrese wasn't a top 10 pick, but not only were they not 10 top 10 picks, but they were both traded. You know, and, and, and you have incredible players. Jokic was a second round pick, as young man just pointed out to me.

Draymond Green was a second round pick. I mean, you have, look at the current finals. You have players who are enormous contributors who weren't drafted at all. And so I always see it as my responsibility to remind them that this is just one point in time. And you should take motivation from this. And that, again, that understandably these teams

are making these decisions, but don't let that sort of prediction be controlling on you and go double down on your work. Because there's a reason that they're there that they were projected to be there and even if you know if you think the NBA is the 450 best players in the world so we have a relatively small draft compared like if you watch the NFL draft how many rounds they have it's only a two round draft. So again, I just remind them like, yeah, it sucks in that moment.

It feels embarrassing potentially, but go get them. This isn't gonna determine your fate. Oh, definitely. You brought a very interesting point up. We're looking at the finals right now. Obviously game seven will take place very, very soon. We have two small market teams. You see a lot of the narratives just like,

oh, the NBA is upset. We don't have bigger markets than that. We would love to have that conversation with you because obviously it's been great basketball being played. The energy's been high. You've been in both arenas. The fans there seem happy. Is it just a narrative? Is it just like, nah, y'all not really tuned in to the actual product? You know, I could say so much about that. A few things I'll say. One of the points I made the other night was, you know, I'm sure there's a lot of NFL fans here when the Steelers and the Packers play, you know, Pittsburgh and Green Bay, nobody says two small market teams.

Instead, it's two storied franchises. And I want to emulate the NFL from that standpoint. I mean, our goal, and we're on our way there there that whatever market it is, they have passionate fans, they're competing for the championship. And just like in Milwaukee, where you won that championship, Jeff, you know, it's the story.

Isn't that it's a small market? It's the best franchises in the NBA, the best teams in the world competing for championships. And increasingly in a digital world where the incremental difference between Indianapolis and Chicago should become irrelevant because we have a global fan base. We have something like a two billion person

social media community. I mean something like 70 million people will have watched the NBA finals this year. So the fact that there may be a million more people that live in one market or another shouldn't be the issue. Now, I accept that it's a narrative going in. The other thing I'll point out, some of those markets are only smaller relative to the size of other NBA markets.

The mayor of Oklahoma City pointed out that 300 million Americans, close to 90% of Americans live in cities and towns that are smaller than Indianapolis and Oklahoma City. Most of us, I'm from the suburbs of New York, but I grew up in a town, Rye, New York, that had 15,000 people. In my growing up, yeah, New York City wasn't that far away, but it seemed like it was a million miles away. That was my town. When Little League season started, we had a Little League parade. My high school class only had a couple hundred people in it. That was my world. So I think it owned this this small verse big market

narrative only becomes relevant because of historically how we've looked at things. But again, the world's changing quickly. To me, if you're Giannis Attena-Cumpo and you're in Milwaukee, you're globally known and nobody's going to convince him that if you went down the road to Chicago, then you can be that much of a bigger star. So, and I'll lastly saying, just having gone back and forth

from Indianapolis to Oklahoma City and vice versa over the last two weeks, the passion is unbelievable in those towns. I just came in from Indianapolis this morning. I mean, you're there, every storefront has banners in it for the Pacers, same thing in Oklahoma City. Every building has a huge banner on it. Everyone's wearing merchandise.

If you see on television, everyone's wearing the team colors. It's like a college environment. And so in some ways, when you're in those markets where there are smaller, it captures people's attention even more than, I live in New York City now, when we have teams in this town

that are competing for championships, as big as that audience is, it's not as all consuming as it might be in New York City now when we have teams in this town that are competing for championships, as big as that audience is, it's not as all consuming as it might be in a so-called smaller market. Most definitely. For sure. I mean, we were talking to a guy yesterday, he was telling us about how it was in New York when they were just making the Easter Conference finals.

And I think that's what the narrative is. Because when you see all the people outside, it was what, a million people almost outside? You start thinking like, man, if they was in the finals, what would that look like? So I think that's what people talk about. But to me, being from Indiana and seeing how the Pacers react and the fans are, it's crazy, I think it's beautiful for the league.

It is, and also, I mean, when it comes to basketball, no state is more closely associated with the game Than Indiana. I know you're still coaching high school. Yeah ball there a same in Oklahoma City I mean, it's this sport feels endemic to those markets. It's as I said, it's not there's the support for The Thunder for the Pacers, but also people just love the game in those cities and states. And you can really feel it. And I think particularly the way these finals are being played, just the good best selfless style, the pass first.

I mean, both teams, it's a great defense, really physical. I think people are really eating up these finals. They're just really enjoying them. For sure. We'll be getting some expansion teams here soon. They what? The expansion teams, man, how you feel about that? You know, it's something we're gonna look at.

It's more complicated, I think, sometimes, than people realize because I think some people look at expansion that you're printing money. Yeah. But it's not because, it's like if you own something, you're selling an interest in it. If you're one of the 30 owners in the NBA and just say you expand by two teams, it's, it's not that different than selling a portion of your team to someone else.

You know, having said that there's so many great markets out there that love the NBA. It's something we're definitely going to look at. Okay. For sure. Yes. I, he says Seattle, OK, for sure. Yes. Hi. He said Seattle. We were just trying to figure out what cities would be good to bring a new team to. Obviously, they do the summer league in Vegas, so it's equipped for NBA basketball.

So I know Vegas would probably be a cool spot. Like he said, Seattle had a team already. It's interesting. We had a team in Seattle before. It's such an incredible market. Many of my years at the NBA were spent when we still had a team in Seattle before. It's such an incredible market. Many of my years at the NBA were spent when we still had a team in Seattle. There's no doubt about the love for basketball there.

And Vegas, you just mentioned where we have our summer league. I feel like we have a team there. Yeah, yeah. You know, the two weeks or so that summer league goes, it literally like it consumes the whole basketball world. Those games, when we first started playing the summer league there, those games were hardly even on television. Now sports centers operating out of Las Vegas, studio shows there.

You know, it's like they I've never been to the baseball winter meetings, but that's what it feels like. You know, all the general managers are there. The teams are doing deals. Guys who weren't drafted are there. The draft picks are there. They're selling out in the arena. So I feel like we already have a huge presence in Las Vegas.

Oh, definitely. I wanted to ask you a fun question. I recently introduced somebody to the movie Eddie, and then we watched Celtic Pride. So those old NBA movies that used to integrate all the things between us meeting the fans, fictional and the NBA, I want to know, how does that happen? Is there a licensing or

a conversation that happens? Because you know you see a lot of things being used, some of the players, some not. I would love to see is that something that's in the works future as the game is going, we get back into that, but how is the conversation or something like that happen? Well the way it works and I was at the league for Eddie and Celtic Pride and there's a division of the NBA called NBA Entertainment that I used to run. And so when people, and for anybody here today

or is listening to this, wants to make a movie involving the NBA Earth's teams, come to us. I mean, we try to make it easy. You know, in essence, we come and say, if you want to license our logos or our name, you know, we want movies to ultimately be positive, of course, about the league. So you know, most people realize that. So it's not that we're not approving things that come to us, but we'll have discussions

with the producers and the writers and the directors. But we want people to be talking about basketball. We want them to be talking about the NBA and the WNBA and all the things we're doing. So you know, I think over the years, we've learned to try to make it a bit more turnkey for people who want to use our intellectual property and say, please, to the extent that you have a new angle and it may be people want to do something about mascots. It's not always just about, there was a movie called Like Mike, some may remember. There's the Michael Jordan last dance that came out in the middle of the pandemic. What's the movie with Common?

Just Right. But also, one of my favorite basketball movies is Hoosiers. Even though NBA had nothing whatsoever to do with that, any movie that's about the love of the game is we think is really positive for us. So we're always encouraging people who want to do anything around basketball. You know, I when I walk through this fan festival, I want more attention focused on basketball. And that's like my job is to get more people to love this game.

And you say your favorite basketball is Hoosiers. That's very interesting. Yeah, being probably probably. favorite basketball is Hoosiers. That's very interesting. Be here. Probably. Have you seen Hoosiers? Come on. Yeah, I've seen Hoosiers.

Did you play? I haven't seen Hoosiers. Did you play back in the day in high school or anything? Did I play? Yeah. That's why I wear a Mernes suit. I played, but not well.

I don't know. When you walked in, I was like, OK, he might set a screen and slip to the field. I didn't know you was that tall. I'll say yourself I said, I was like, he might have been a sniper. Big guard back in the day. We might need you in the park. Yeah, no, no. Yeah, 3ND.

I'm in the office. Thank you. So I had a question. Like, when the, like, a trade like Luca... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

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app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. Happens, right? And it kind of shocks the league. Like, what's it like in a league office? Like, do y'all know like, whoa, this is about to be wild or?

You know, first of all, I'll say one of the misnomers I think out there is that I have the power to disapprove a trade. I don't. The only, what the league's role is, as you can imagine, in a cap system and a set of rules around trades, what happens is before the trade is known publicly, although sometimes they're leaked or they're informally announced, but for a trade to be official, it gets called into the league office.

It's kind of old school, where both teams have to get on the phone and lawyers and people in basketball operations literally line up the contract. So if somebody, make it up, is making $8 million, you have to ensure that the other team has $8 million of cap space in order to sign that player. You have to assure that it complies with all of our rules.

And so we get, if assuming a trade hasn't been leaked, a call will come into the league office. A team will say, we want to set up a trade call. Both sides will be on the call. It's a little bit like anybody who's bought a home and there's a closing. Yeah. It's the closest thing where you've

got to make sure you indeed have the title to the house. Yeah. There's been an inspection and there's a contract, all those things. So there's, in essence, a checklist. And then the trade becomes official. So we don't. And because the teams often, in particular trades,

and Luca is a good example where the teams are very secretive. They're not necessarily tipping us off. We learn about it. I mean we learn about it ahead of the public, but only it's usually only a question of hours because we have to go through that official process of approving it. But but not sooner than that was that like when you seen that come across where you kind of shocked low Yeah, I would only say I mean because in many ways. I'm a fan like others and teams aren't necessarily Calling the league office for suggestions on player movement Yeah, so there's the fan in me that only because that's not a player move that people were talking about or the the

because that's not a player move that people were talking about or the shows like yours were talking about. I was surprised from that standpoint. I want to ask you a question, obviously, with the Graham growing. Media is evolving, ever-changing, right? You got player podcasts, you got independent stuff like that. What's one thing you think that the actual media outlets can improve that can actually help the game?

I know we get a lot of criticism, but what's something that we can actually help promote the game better or help progress? Well, first of all, I'll just say, kind of in the same lane when I was talking about movies about the NBA, I'm very appreciative of the amount of media coverage we get. I recognize it's not all gonna be positive,

but to me, as long as it's genuinely from the heart and it's real passion and people aren't making up stories about us. I appreciate it and you know it's one of the things great about sports is people come with their opinions. Yeah. They like things, they dislike things and we learn from that too. You know and it's we pay attention to social media, we pay attention to traditional media, you get great ideas from there. I think the only thing I'd add to the extent there's more media that's educating fans about

what goes into championship basketball, I think sometimes if you haven't been close to the game, and I've learned a lot over my time because I didn't play at a high level to understand that it's not just about effort it's about the plays that are unfolding it's about the sophistication of the coaching it's about the sophistication of the scouting I mean I think sometimes like understanding what goes into being an NBA player, the amount of hard work, the amount of training, but also I think sometimes because the way our game is called, you know, it's moving so quickly even for the best announcers, play-by-play announcers like Mike Breen or the best color commentaries, the best color commentary.

It's moving so fast, there's not necessarily time to explain everything that's happening, that it's not just this guy is off tonight, but he may be off because this incredible defense, and what is the scheme, and what is that defense? So I think sometimes like those other shows, whether it's a pregame show or a halftime, or it's an afternoon show podcast you name it about the NBA just to be talking about more about the game

and and what goes into team basketball and what and what goes into making the NBA and staying in the NBA. Yeah sure. That's definitely. Now T you always talk about how the NBA is a business in the fraternity and what they do for the players after they leave the game. You want to indulge in that a little bit more. Yeah, I'll obviously it's a bunch of programming now that it's been coming into the league when I first came in the league the rookie rookie transition and all those great things that you have to do when you first get in the league. I was wondering how can we like I'm not going to say better it I think it does a really good job and everything is nice when you retire from basketball but is anything like you would suggest for some of the guys who might retire at the age of like 30 31 is there anything you could suggest to help them with that process? It's a great question a few things number one so for the first time,

we have a former player who's running the Players Association, Andre Guadala. So he's very attuned to the issues of not just former players, but the transition for a player to go from being on the floor to then the rest of their life and to how they're going to use the skills they've developed as a player and use the skills they've developed as a player and what new skills they might need to be successful whatever they

choose to do whether it's to be in the media or to run businesses or whatever else. The other thing Andre is doing is building a closer relationship between what has been a separate organization the Retired Players Association and the union that currently represents the players because I think that can help with a smooth transition as Well, and then you mentioned the rookie transition program So that's that's a program for players coming into the NBA the transition of coming from college or Europe wherever it is now The world's changing quickly because now with NIL deals and collectives, guys are now coming into the league. And the same thing for the women in the WNBA,

now in many cases having been paid. So they already have a certain sophistication around payments and being shoe deals and things like that. But so they come in, we have the training in. I think one thing that Andre is very focused on, and in fairness, and the union leaders before him, is enhancing those programs. So that while you're a player,

there's a lot of different counseling on managing your money, managing your life, dealing with social media, all those things. And the union's done a fantastic job. There's a role for our teams and a role for the league in doing all those things. And then I think also where Andre now, I think the focus is, all right, what more can we do

for helping the players manage that transition? And then once, I said they become a retired player because I often, and Jeff, you can speak this, when you're right off the floor, there may be a period of sort of decompressing, taking some time. There's that change from being on the road the whole time. Often guys are getting reacquainted with their families or they've had kids while they were playing and haven't been around as much. So there's that period. But then now you have essentially

the rest of your life ahead of you. What kind of programs can we help provide to train people? And I'll just say lastly, I mean, there's also one of the things that we put in place several years ago, and Michelle Roberts was head of the Players Association, Chris Paul was president of the union, is lifetime health insurance for guys who played in the league, which is a huge deal, and also enhancing the pension programs, the 401k programs so that for somebody who has played a certain minimum threshold of years in the league, you know to a certain extent you'll be set. You know you're going to have health insurance.

You know you're going to have a pension. Now, that's not suggesting they should just be satisfied with that, but on top of that there's all these other opportunities. And you're obviously a great example of it. What can you then use that platform you have by virtue of being an NBA player and then building careers from beyond what you accomplished on the floor? For sure. Most definitely.

We talk about the NIL situation all the time. I know you probably get asked this a million times. Is it a possibility that high school players go back to the NBA straight? Maybe. But the NIL impact, you say you got lesser people in the draft this year. Do you think that's something that's

going to be an ongoing issue, or is it just a new transition period, because it's just new? Yeah, when you think about it, we don't, as I said, we only have a two-round draft. And the fact, I think it's really positive that some of these young men are getting good information in essence and realizing that they're unlikely to be selected in those two rounds. And if that's the case, and they can remain in college and be paid, and in many cases paid significant amounts of money,

so one, they're getting compensated for their skill and maybe even more importantly to extent they want to be professional basketball players they're getting real minutes they're getting great coaching and they're continuing to train and improve at their craft so it's it's a win-win for everybody as opposed to losing eligibility because somebody's convinced you that you're going to be a top draft pick, not getting drafted, you can't go back to college, and now you're going to play maybe in Europe or Asia or something else as opposed to really honing your skill and having your best shot at playing in the NBA.

And the other thing is if you're not going gonna be drafted and you're going back into school, it shouldn't be lost that you're also continuing to get an education because realistically, you may not have an opportunity to play in the NBA. It may be great to go play in Europe. There's great basketball playing played around the world, but that may not compensate you at the same level as being in the NBA. You might not be able to do it for as long.

So now you finish, you play for three, four years in Europe, whatever it is, but now you have a college education and then you can go out and then pursue another career. So I think the fact that some of those young men are withdrawing their names is very positive. To me that just means there's better information out there in the marketplace Will we ever get back to kids being able to come straight out of high school? Like would that ever be a thing again and maybe I do you think you know we've talked about that you know just so everybody understands like that's not a Decision we can make on our own it can only it has to be negotiated with the players association

And when we last discussed it, I think that the general feeling from the teams and the players is to extent that those young players have that extra year. Honestly, whether it's in college or playing in Europe, they're, it's better for the league because they come in better skilled with a little bit more maturity.

I gotcha, I gotcha. And we've talked about obviously the all-star format possibly being the USA versus the world. We've got a lot of great international players, a lot of them won MVP recently. We got camps around the world. Is there a possibility that we could get a expansion team that's not in the United States? Well we have the Raptors. Of course. they're around a way down. I know, they're attached, it's not the same. Yeah, over time, I mean, one of the things we've been looking at the league is whether we can help operate a new professional league in Europe.

I mean, don't get me wrong, there's incredible basketball being played in Europe and there's some really great teams. And, you know, several of our most recent MVPs have come from Europe. But I think from a commercial standpoint, basketball, professional basketball hasn't been nearly as successful in Europe as the size of the market might suggest. So that's one path. I wouldn't call it expansion directly, but it's building off the NBA brand and potentially doing more in Europe. So your direct question about teams in Europe, I think over time it's definitely possible.

I was in Paris last summer for the Olympics. I mean, the interest was off the charts. I mean, to me, it was the hottest sport there. I mean like we were selling out every game not just the games involving USA but you know the gold medal game was USA versus France. I mean the game before the US Serbia game was some of the best basketball I had seen.

So there's great players enormous interest. I think part of the limitation is on players' bodies. It's not just the length of the flight, but when you're jumping multiple time zones. It's important guys get proper rest for being on the floor, it's disruptive. You know, there's people remember, there used to be supersonic jets

that went back and forth from New York to Paris, you know, the Concorde, that there's some commercial airliners now who are talking about restoring supersonic jets. I mean, I think that if the travel were faster, honestly, that would be a game changer. It would make it easier to do. But as I said, I think the next step is to sort of plant a flag in Europe potentially with a European league and then go from there. But I think if any league could do it, you could easily imagine teams in Paris, London, Madrid, Berlin. I mean, it's not for lack of interest.

That's for sure. Most definitely. So you can imagine having a back to back in Paris. Man, yeah, like you said, that flight would have been crazy. But it'd probably be a lot of fun, though. I think guys would be open to playing in Paris. I've seen guys go over there for preseason games, exhibition games, and they're like, it's cool to be over here. You got any adjustments that you would like to make for the All-Star game?

You want to bring something new, take something out? How you for the All-Star game? You wanna bring something new, take something out? How you feel about All-Star Weekend? Well, the weekend itself, which we're not judged on for those who are there, is fantastic. I mean, I think anybody who was in the Bay Area in San Francisco last year, I mean, there's tons of events and parties, and there's a fan festival kind of like this. I mean, people love that experience there. The game itself, as we've not put our

best foot forward. And I think the players recognize that we recognize that. So as you mentioned, we're talking about changing the concept, doing something maybe close to what the NHL did in the four nation face off. I mean, I think if it were just straight up USA world, as much as fans would love that, I'm not sure it would be fair to the players because roughly 30% of the players are from outside the United States. So it wouldn't be fair to pick half the team from 30% and the other half from 70%.

But I think we're looking, I know we're looking at different formats now, talking to the players association, because we need their agreement where we would use that concept. Again, similarly NHL did, where you create that passion around the USA, playing other countries, other regions in the world. I'm particularly excited about it. I'll just add, so next year our All-Star game is moving to NBC, where it regions in the world. I mean, I'm particularly excited about it. I'll just add. So next year, our All-Star game is moving to NBC, where it was in the old days, and we'll be in the middle of the Winter Olympics.

So on the Sunday when the All-Star game takes place, for TV watchers, they'll be watching the Olympics, you know, all day. Then you'll come to our All-Star game, and then after our All-Star game, we'll be going back to the Olympics. So I'd love to play off that theme that will be smack in the middle, as I said,

of that Olympic competition. So I think it's a good time for us to be looking at those formats. Okay, cool, cool. Oh, I wanted to ask too though, so LeBron, you know he's on his last leg of the league. Yeah, make sure you said that, not me. I'm saying that.

Who you think that can fill that void of the new face of the NBA? Just give me three players. I always say, we don't create those faces at the league office, they earn it on the floor. It's interesting to watch these finals. Obviously, Shea is our MVP. He was the scoring leader this year.

But again, he's having a great final so far. But ultimately, LeBron is a face of the league and Michael was and KD was and these guys and Steph because they win championships. I mean, it's look in fairness to any individual player. It's also a team sport. And LeBron made that point the other day. For sure. But look, it sports are about competition. It's about winning. Yeah. And the great news is kind of like what I was saying about the draft earlier, I don't have to sit here and predict sort of who our next face of the league is. They earn it. You know, they are established by what they do on the floor. And it's great to see now this next generation.

I think in a way it's the best of all worlds because LeBron is still at 40 years old playing an incredibly high level. Steph is playing an incredibly high level. So is Kevin. It's wonderful to see that generation still here mentoring this next generation, but ultimately that this next generation who want to take that mantle from them again that that's where the competitive

juice is coming they got to earn it by demonstrating they deserve to be the face of the league by their performance on the floor. I wanted to ask I think for all those basketball heads in the offseason we get to see all the players playing different situations now which you're integrating the NBA, like having the Drew League on the NBA app, things of that nature. Is that something that's like purposely saying, okay, we're going to embrace every aspect of this game and keep growing? Or is this something organically guys are just like, you know what, if everybody's rocking with this, we might as well include ourselves in

that. I would say that's a case where it's definitely both. I mean, what's cool about the Drew League or Rucker or anything a case where it's definitely both. I mean, what's cool about the Drew League or Rutgers or anything else is that it's truly organic. I can take zero credit for that, but then we can be very intentional about it and say the NBA app is a central repository of basketball. Over time, truly everything basketball, but right now anything involving NBA players.

NBA players. NBA players are playing in those summer leagues whether it's summer leagues here in New York or in LA or Drew or whatever else that you know especially one thing about social media it's not always fine it's not always easy to discover what you're looking for if you think about X or Instagram, whatever else, like those algorithms are pretty good at feeding you more basketball if you show an interest in it. But there's nothing like that ability to go to the NBA app

and that is identifying for you. If there's great basketball out there involving NBA players, off season or future NBA players or what's happening in Europe or Asia, we're going to deliver it directly to you. And that's a place where we're trying to get a lot more sophisticated. But we want to take advantage of all that great content,

all those great games that are already out there. Most definitely. Now, listen, I got the jersey on. I'm saying the goal. A lot of fans miss the classic jerseys. Is there a world where we could possibly have the All-Star game back into the original uniforms of the players? You know, I'm looking around.

There's a gentleman out there named Sal LaRocca, and he oversees all of merchandising. So, Sal, you heard that. Are you nodding your head yes? He's saying yes. We're looking at that idea. No, it's we go back and forth. Like, people want new uniforms,

they want old, but I love the idea of the classic jerseys. Hey, I love how you put him on the spot and everybody starts laughing. Show some love to my man. You know, the feedback from our fans is critically important, so thank you everybody. Most definitely. Well, listen, commission, we appreciate your time

and make some noise for Mr. Silver one time. Yeah. Thank you, thank you for having me. Most definitely one time for Fanatic, two pounds for Boost Mobile, $25 unlimited, tall text data, where they at T? 5G nationwide. For sure.

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