Adam Silver attended the media of communication during the preview of the NBA Finals 2021 between the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks. The first thing the commissioner of the American league did is to thank all the parties involved for their participation in the complicated season, strongly marked by the pandemic.
In this sense, Silver was satisfied to have been able to return to 100% of the capacity in the pavilions on the way to the Finals: “We are excited to have the fans in the pavilions. I didn’t think we’d be like this a few months ago. People from other sectors and from the world of sports have told me that when the playoffs began and they saw the pavilions full, it was a sign that the worst of the pandemic had already passed ”.
Silver celebrated the generational change in the competition, which has seen a playoffs of revelations, young stars and finalists who fight against a drought of more than 50 years: “We see this as a transitional stage for the league. Not just post-covidBut for the teams that have reached the Conference Finals. There are rising stars and rising franchises around the league. “.
Regarding a more specific format, such as the play-in tournament, Silver said that his idea was to repeat next year: “My expectation is that the play-in will continue. We need approval from the teams and the NBPA. There was criticism, but overall it was very positive for the league and for the players. Obviously there are ideas to correct things ”.
The commissioner also reviewed other issues that he recognized as not a priority for the competition right now. League expansion will occur, and there are still discussions to do so with various groups and cities, but the pandemic is not the right context to promote a new franchise.
Over the NBA Global Games, Silver was also realistic: does not expect to be able to recover them until 2022 and everything will depend on the situation of the pandemic at that time. An even more persistent problem, that of inclusion and diversity, also came up in the press video conference:
“It’s a little frustrating. Even looking at this room, we would like to see more women here. It is changing. It’s slow, it’s frustrating, but it is the work that must be done every day to change consciousness and create a group of candidates ”.