The best league in the world is undergoing a process of change. The new collective agreement, already in force, has allowed the big stars to amass fortunes and obtain huge contracts while the middle class of the competition has been slightly harmed. In recent days we have seen how numerous European players returned to the Old Continent after not finding opportunities in the NBA, while the visible faces signed new extensions to their contracts, increasingly higher and carrying monetary records never seen before. Meanwhile, in the sporting part, the play-in has been definitively consolidated, that kind of preliminary round that was invented with the coronavirus pandemic and is here to stay. And the In-Season Tournament will experience its second edition after a successful first attempt that crowned the Lakers and gave excitement to the first months of the season, marked by sometimes insipid games in a part of the year in which the competitiveness was not so high.
With all this and much more, the NBA faces the 2024-25 basketball season. The Celtics are the current champions and have won the 18th ring in their long history, breaking the historic battle they have with the Lakers for the eternal throne of the competition. The Western Conference is more open than ever, without a clear dominator, with the Warriors dynasty entering a clear decline and LeBron James breaking longevity records and facing what will be his 22nd season in the North American competition. This season we will see him play alongside his son, a historic milestone in American sport that adds a new unprecedented situation to a narrative that continues to be much talked about and to which the NBA will hold on as long as it can.
Beyond that, Nikola Jokic is coming off his third MVP of the season, equalling great legends like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird or Moses Malone. Players from the past continue to vindicate their basketball against those of the present, Luka Doncic continues to add records and has already played in his first Finals and the game continues to be changing and captivating, with a change of cycle that was evident in the last playoffs. The young and beardless Pacers, a Knicks that starred in an exciting final phase, the definitive explosion of Anthony Edwards or the Thunder of Shai-Gilgeous Alexander are the present. While players who are still active are beginning to form part of a past that, despite being recent, never stops being left behind: LeBron himself, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, James Harden… All of that, with the epicentre of the new world narrative, a Victor Wembanyama who has arrived with an air of promise and is fulfilling expectations with the protection provided by the shelter of Gregg Popovich’s wing: Rookie of the Year and leader in blocks in his first campaign, he also won silver at the Paris Olympic Games. Some in which the Dream Team won again and in which it was shown that the European powers are getting closer to the North Americans.
At a time of evolution and turmoil, Adam Silver reviewed the most important lines in which the current NBA moves. The commissioner, who replaced David Stern in 2014 after a careful transition, has shown a magnetic speech throughout this time and has had to deal throughout his stage with great setbacks for which he has been up to the task: Donald Sterling’s racist comments and his definitive expulsion from American basketball, the coronavirus pandemic with the resolution of the Orlando bubble, the threat of the players to stop playing due to the murder of George Floyd, the empowerment of professionals and their cultural power within the American idiosyncrasy and the invention of new tournaments and motivations for the regular season The commissioner went over some of these things after the NBA board of governors meeting on Tuesday, as well as talking about other issues that he will have to deal with in the near future, some of which have already exploded: the expected expansion, sports betting or litigation for the sale of certain franchises, among other things.
Expansion, not yet
One of the most recurrent themes is that of NBA expansion. With 30 teams since 2004, when the last expansion of teams was signed to round out the number and change the format of the divisions, it has been a very recurrent theme. Especially since the Sonics moved to Oklahoma in 2009 and ceased to exist, with the Thunder inheriting the history of the Seattle franchise, one of the most famous and beloved in the competition. Since then, there has been much talk of a new entity in that city, although there has also been talk of Las Vegas, a place of great economic power where the best League in the world has already begun to lay its foundations. Not in vain, it was there where, as neutral ground, the semi-finals and the final of the In-Season Tournament were held. However, Adam Silver has assured that it is still too early for that idea to take a definitive form and for the leap forward to be made to create a new franchise.
“There wasn’t a lot of talk about expansion at this meeting, but it was largely not for lack of interest, but because we had told them that we’re not quite ready. It was something that we told our board that we plan to address this season, and we’re not quite ready yet. But I think there’s certainly interest in the process, and I think we’re not quite there yet in terms of having made specific decisions about markets or even, frankly, to expand.”. In the last collective bargaining agreement, the NBA reached a television deal with Disney, Comcast and Amazon, paving the way for the league to begin considering expansion in the coming months. The first step in that process would be to form a committee of several owners to explore the topic of expansion and determine what the next steps would be. But for now, the idea remains that: an idea. As much as Silver assures that in the future it can be addressed and that they are always attentive to what happens in other stadiums, especially in the Key Arena, which is still standing and was the place where the Sonics played their home games.
The betting controversy
The commissioner, who assured that the NBA was not going to get involved in the litigation surrounding the sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves (the sale from former owner Glen Taylor to businessman Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez has been mired in a legal battle for months) or the Boston Celtics (who announced the transfer of powers in exchange for a large financial sum after winning the ring) has also spoken about the problem of sports betting, which has caused so many problems in recent months (always, but more than ever now), with even players involved being sanctioned. Silver wrote about a decade ago, just before taking up his post, an opinion piece in the New York Times in which he advocated the legalization of sports betting, something that he was reminded of at the press conference that took place after the board of governors meeting. A question that the director has not avoided.
“I don’t regret writing that op-ed and being in favor of legalizing sports betting. I still think there’s no turning back. I think, as I said at the time, with the advent of the Internet, online sports betting is widely available, even before we had legalized it. In the 30-plus states where you can now legally bet, we had to deal head-on with the technology and recognize that if we don’t legalize sports betting, people are going to find ways to do it illegally.“Silver said.
The commissioner’s argument did not stop there and Silver justified its existence and legalization by assuring that its control was impossible and that they will continue to occur no matter what happens. One of the most controversial parts of his speech, however, is one that the director constantly justifies and does not hide from. In April, the NBA experienced its latest scandal: Jontay Porter, who played for the Raptors, was involved in these events from 2021 to 2023. The North American competition, with a firm stance on this issue despite Silver’s opinion, banned him for life. Coaches and players then raised their voices and JB Bickerstaff, then coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers (now Kenny Atkinson), claimed to have received calls to fix games.
Adam Silver has clear rules, but he justifies his opinion piece and has a point of view that he has not evaded at any time.I think the downsides to sports betting certainly exist, and I think we need to pay close attention to that. I think we’re hearing about it in multiple situations and you’re certainly seeing incidents of underage people being involved in this. We need to pay close attention to that, to what’s potentially happening on college campuses, particularly with people betting beyond their means. But I go back to a hypothetical notion of regulatory framework. You can track people when you have their credit cards. There are much better ways than when it’s illegal to track them legally. So I think there are direct ways to deal with this.or”, sentence.
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