The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Club 520 - Adam Silver on Luka Doncic to Lakers trade, NBA Draft, All-Star Game changes

Episode Date: June 24, 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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If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis' keep coming to you. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

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There you go. Yes, sir. Yo, yo, yo, Fanatics, how y'all doing? How y'all doing? What up, what are you doing? What up, what up? Yeah. I love this energy.

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Y'all know what time of this. Come on, man. Tap in and get you a phone, man. Still got my gang with me up here to my far left. We got my dog. Bishop B. here and out the Pirlies. How you what, nasty? What's hanging?

And what up, fanatics? My boy, what's up, baby? What up? Tapped in for show to my right, my dog, young nacho, young team. How are 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 these gentlemen on our platform, but it's a blessing. We're about to have a dope conversation. We're happy to share this moment with y'all. We have the one, the only to commission. Mr. Adam Silver, joining Five-20.

Make some noise. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. The gold, the gold. Thank you, man. Boss man. Hello. Yeah, energy, energy.

Love this. Wow. First and foremost, we want to say thank you. We appreciate you joining us. How are 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. No, for sure, for sure. Listen, this is a blessing to have you on this stage. Obviously, you know what I'm saying? You got to walk across that stage, but for me and BN, it's our draft night moment, baby. Yeah, the real draft night.

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. That's dope. 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. Yeah. Now, I wanted to ask you this question because everybody's moment, you know, is their dream to get across the NBA. Say, shake your hand and hold a jersey. What was it like for you the first time? you got to be in that position and host the draft as the commissioner. It was, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

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 at often at their parents, their siblings, their friends. So it's, 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 such. And I think it's just a lot of them have 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 it's, 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? Like what was your first period?

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 the first player is drafted. I wanted to ask you this question. Obviously, you know, legal background, worked in the NBA as well. Recipes, obviously, the late 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 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 again, I worked hard, but at 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,

families, the tens of thousands of employees of the MBA, you know, and now the WMBA that we're part of, it's, you know, you feel the weight of the responsibility. And in this league, I mean, there's, there's incredible things that happen every day, but there's also things that are risked to the business, you know, 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, I, I'm all struck, 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 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. Like, what's that feeling? You know, I'm often, it happens occasionally where there is a player who's projected to go higher and drops for whatever reason.

And often, in some cases, in between picks, I'll walk down and just say hello to the player and their family. You know, we have a lunch in 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. Tyrese wasn't a top 10 pick. But not only were they not top 10 picks, but they were both traded. Yeah.

You know, and you have incredible players, you know, Yokic was a second round pick. Yeah. Young man just pointed out to me. You know, Draymond Green was a second round pick. I mean, you have, look at the current finals. You know, 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. You know, this isn't going to determine your fate.

Oh, definitely. You brought a very interesting point of. 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 are 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? It's just like, nah, y'all not really tuned in into 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 that 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, that whatever market it is, they have passionate fans, they're competing for the championship, and just like in Milwaukee where he 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 2 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 9.000. 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. And so, and 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 small versus 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 Janice Antenacumpo 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. And I lastly saying just having gone back and forth from Indianapolis to 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 that are smaller, it captures people's attention even more than, you know, 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 a so-called smaller market. Most definitely. No, for sure. I mean, we were talking to a guy yesterday, and 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 started thinking like, man, if they was in the finals, what would that look like? Exactly. So I think that's what people, you know, 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 ball there. Same in Oklahoma City. I mean, this sport feels endemic to those markets. As I said, 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 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 change, man. How you feel about that? You know, it's something we're going to 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. 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 not that different than selling a portion of your team to,

someone else. Okay. 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. Oh, definitely. Yes. Hi.

Hello. Now, he said Seattle. We were just trying to figure out, like, 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. You know, it's interesting.

I mean, 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. 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. Because, 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.

Teams are doing deals. Guys who weren't drafted are there. The draft picks are there. They're selling out in the arena. So, like, I feel like we already have a huge presence in Las Vegas. 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, they used to integrate all the things between us. us being in the spans, fictional in 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 may use, some of the players, some not. I would love to see is that something that's in the works future as the Graham is growing. 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 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, you know, 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 WMBA 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, you know, we, 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, you know, there was a movie called Like Mike. Some of you may remember, you know, there's, you know, the Michael Jordan last dance, you know, the kind of. came out in the middle of the pandemic. What's the movie with Common?

Just right? Just right. Yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, but also even, like, one of my favorite basketball movies is Hoosiers. Even though NBA had nothing whatsoever to do with that, like 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, when I walk through this fan festival, I want more tension focused on basketball.

And that's like, my job is to get. have more people to love this game. You say your favorite basketball is Hoosiers. That's very interesting. Yeah. Probably, probably. Have you seen Hoosiers? Yeah, come on.

Yeah, so I'll see Hoosiers. Did you play? Did you play? Did you play back in the day in high school or anything? Did I play? Yeah. That's why I wear a man in a suit. I played, but not well.

I don't know. I mean, when you walked in? I was okay, he might set a screen and slip to the floor. I didn't know you was that tall. I said, I said, I was like, he might have been a sniper. Big guard back in the day. We might need you in a police. Park. Yeah, no, no. Yeah, 3 and D. I'm in the office. Thank you.

So I had a question. Like, when they're like a trade like Luca. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas,

and offered it up as a potential. title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis.

And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jen she went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

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happens right and it kind of shocks the league like what's it like in the league office like do y'all know like whoa this is about to be wild or you know since before i you know first of all say one of the misnomer's i think out there is that i have the power to disapprove a trade I don't. 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, like, you indeed have the title to the house, and 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's 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 more 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 like 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 so there's the fan in me that only because that's not a player move that people were talking about or the the the show like yours we're talking about, I was surprised from that standpoint. Yeah. I want to ask you that question, obviously with the grain growing, media is evolving, ever-changing,

right? You got player podcasts, 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'd 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 going to 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. And 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, 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, you know, 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 halftime or it's an afternoon show, podcast, you name it, about the NBA, just to be talking about more about the game. and what goes into team basketball and what goes into making the NBA and staying in the NBA. Sure. That's definitely.

Now, T, you always talk about how the NBA is a business and a fraternity and what they do for the players after they leave the game. You want to indulge on that a little bit more? Yeah, 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 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 can 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 Nguada. 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 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 business 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 WMBA now in many cases having been paid. So they already have a certain sophistication around payments and being, you know, 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, you know, 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 often, and Jeff, you can speak this when you're right off the floor, there may be a period of sort of decompressing. Yeah. 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 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, you know, 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, you know, 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, of 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, and I know you probably get asked this a million times, is it a possibility that a high school players to go back to the NBA straight? Maybe.

But the NIL impact, you say you've got lesser people in the drive this year, if you think is that something's going to be an ongoing issue, 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 one of the, 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 that, 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 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 to 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. You know, to go play in Europe, there's great basketball playing played around the world, but that may, you know, 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 in the NBA, 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, it's better for the league because they come in better skilled with a little bit more mature. I got you. I got you. 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 an expansion team that's not in the United States? Well, we have the Raptors.

Of course, but you know, they're a little bit more. They're around the way they don't come. 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 at the 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 several of our most recent MVP's 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. To 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 the gold medal game was USA. versus France. I mean, the game before the U.S. 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 in forward from New York to Paris, you know, the Concord, that there's some commercial airliners now who are talking about restoring supersonic jets. I mean, I think that if the traveler 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 plan 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, you can, Paris, London, Madrid, Berlin. I mean, it's not for lack of interest, that's for sure. Most definitely. Teague, imagine having the back to the back of Paris. Man, yeah, like he 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 and 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, like, 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 faceoff. 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 of 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, similar to the NHL did, where you'd create that passion around the USA, playing other countries, other 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 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. Definitely. Yeah. I wanted to ask too, though. So, LeBron, you know, he's on his last lead of the league. Yeah, you make sure you said that, not me.

I'm saying that. Who you think that can fill that void of, like, the new face of the NBA? Just you give me, like, three players. You know, I always say, like, you know, we don't create those faces at the league office. They earn it on the floor. Yeah. It's interesting. So watch these finals.

Obviously, Shea is our MVP. Yeah. He was a scoring leader this year. But, again, I mean, 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, 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, sports are about competition. It's about winning. 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. Thanks. Steph is playing an incredibly high level. So is Kevin. You know, so it's wonderful to see that generation is still here mentoring this next generation. But ultimately, ultimately that this next generation, who want to take that mantle from them again, that that's where the competitive juice is coming.

They've got to earn it by demonstrating they deserve to be the face of the league by their performance on the floor. Gotcha. 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. When you're integrating the NBA, like having the Drew League on the NBA app, things to 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 it something organically you 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 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. Of every, you know, over time, truly everything basketball, but right now, anything involving NBA players.

and the NBA players are playing in those summer leagues, whether it's summer leagues here in New York or in L.A. 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, but 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, offseason 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. For sure. Now, listen, I got the jersey on, you know what 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. There's a gentleman out there named Sal Larka, 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, we go back and forth. Like, people want new uniform, they want old, but I love the idea of the classic jerseys. I love how you put him on the spot and everybody starts clapping. Show some love, my man. Hey, you know, the feedback from our fans is critically important, so thank you, everybody.

Most definitely. Well, listen, Commissioner, we appreciate your time at Mason, Norris, Mississippi one time. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Most definitely, one time for Fanatic Sex, 2 pounds for Boost Mobile. $25, unlimited, tall text data where they add, T. 5G nationwide.

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