Adam Silver continues endearing himself to NBA fans across the globe, this time in a more direct manner than ever before. The commissioner, who's been so successful since taking over for David Stern in 2014 that NFL owners have reached out to him about replacing Roger Goodell, created even more goodwill for himself recently when he named the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade and Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki as special selections for Sunday's All-Star game in Charlotte.
At his annual press conference with the media on Saturday, Silver revealed it was a fan who originally gave him the idea to make Wade and Nowitzki All-Stars for a final time.
Adam Silver said his decision to add Wade and Nowitzki to the NBA All-Star Game came from an email from a fan.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) February 17, 2019
Awesome.
Wade, who will retire at season's end, has played better than most anyone could have anticipated during his farewell tour. He’s averaging 13.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in 25.5 minutes per game while exclusively coming off the bench for the first time in his career. He also routinely leads Miami’s late-game offense, making the most of his supreme knack for anglesand pace that combined with his unparalleled explosiveness early in his career to propel him to superstardom.
Nowitzki has been considerably less effective in 2018-19 than his two-time counterpart in the NBA Finals. He missed the first 31 games of the season while recovering from injury, and has been unable to muster the shot-making magic that made him such a devastating offensive force in his prime. Nowitzki is averaging career-lows across the board of 4.7 points. 1.7 rebounds, and 11.0 minutes per game. Worse, he's shooting just 35.5 percent overall and 30.9 percent from beyond the arc.
On Sunday, though, no one will care how Wade and Nowitzki have played up to this point, for which we have Silver and a thoughtful fan to thank.
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