Adam Silver Comments on State of League at NBA All-Star Game Press Conference

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver opened up about a variety of topics Saturday in his state of the league address during NBA All-Star Weekend.NBA TV shared Silver's opening comments from the press conference:ESPN.com's Marc Stein first reported in December the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement with the National Basketball Players Association would move up the start of the regular season by at least a week.Silver told reporters Saturday an earlier opening night for the regular season will give players more rest throughout the course of the year, per the Associated Press' Brett Martel. As a result, they may be less inclined to voluntarily take nights off and miss games.Also in regard to the CBA, Silver said the league and players' union remain in discussions about the NBA's age limit, per Turner Sports' Matt Winer. Turner Sports analyst David Aldridge reported the league wanted to raise the age limit to 20, while the union wished to create a rule similar to Major League Baseball's draft eligibility. Players would be free to enter the NBA after high school, but those who went to college would have to stay at least two years.Looking at the bigger picture, Silver said he believes the league will continue to see an influx of international players with the player pool growing this season from 20 percent to 25 percent, according to Earl K. Sneed of the Dallas Mavericks' official site. USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt tweeted the league could soon see more than 30 percent of its players come from overseas.ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk reported Saturday the NBA plans to have an exhibition event in Africa this summer. During his state of the league address, Silver identified the continent as an important part of the NBA's international expansion, courtesy of NBA TV:No storyline from All-Star Weekend has arguably been bigger than the reveal Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving believes the earth is flat. Irving stated his assertion with teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye on their podcast, Road Trippin' with RJ & Channing (h/t ESPN.com).Silver politely disagreed."Kyrie and I went to the same college," he said, per the Los Angeles Daily News' Mark Medina. "We may have taken different courses. Personally, I believe the world is round."Silver waded into more serious issues, including President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning entry to the U.S. for people from seven countries in which Muslims make up a majority of the population."It goes against the fundamental values and the fundamental ingredients of what make for a great NBA," the commissioner said of the legislation, according to the Norman Transcript's Fred Katz.The league announced Monday that Silver intervened in the ongoing feud between New York Knicks owner James Dolan and Charles Oakley after the team ejected Oakley from Madison Square Garden during a game earlier this month.Silver met with Dolan and Oakley at the league's office, with Michael Jordan teleconferencing in. The commissioner told reporters Saturday that Dolan and Oakley have made little progress toward repairing their relationship, a fact that "disheartened" him, per Newsday's Al Iannazzone.
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