NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is overseeing one of the most fruitful eras in the history of the league. With perhaps the most talent the league has ever seen, as well as the dynastic Golden State Warriors alongside one of the two best players of all time, LeBron James, Silver is sitting pretty as the head of the Association.
However, in a recent interview with Marc Stein of the New York Times, Silver is open to altering the league in fascinating ways. In particular, Silver spoke with Stein about possibly emulating the model of European soccer, in which there is a cup competition that teams can also fight for.
According to Stein’s story, Silver acknowledged that a second ‘cup’ for N.B.A. teams to chase every year remains ‘in the conceptual phase' However, Silver and various team executives continue to ponder on the question “why does such a long basketball season offer only one true prize?”
Indeed, a second playoff competition sounds like an interesting idea, but the whole shape of the modern NBA revolves around “rings culture,” in which winning an NBA Finals is all the matters. Would a secondary tournament really catch on? Silver spoke to Stein on that very subject:
“I also recognize I’m up against some of the traditionalists who say no one will care about that other competition, that other trophy, you create. And my response to that is, ‘Organizations have the ability to create new traditions.’ It won’t happen overnight.”
Certainly, these changes will take a long time to be put into place, but it’s an interesting concept — and something to monitor going forward.
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