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I’m back! While Zach Harper is on vacation, I’ll be dusting off my NBA resume to fill in for a bit..
Silver Lining?
How much NBA will we see for free?
Does NBA commissioner Adam Silver care about the common fan?
I was ready to call out Silver for a tone-deaf message to fans from his news conference on Wednesday after the NBA Board of Governors meetings in New York. It was a “highlight” for aggregators and those who need quick content engagement.
“There’s a huge amount of our content that people can essentially consume for free,” Silver said. “I mean, this is very much a highlights-based sport. So Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, you name it. Any service, The New York Times, for that matter, to the extent that your content is not behind a paid firewall. There’s an enormous amount of content out there. YouTube, another example that is advertising-based that consumers can consume.”
The message seemed cold. Can’t afford the streaming services? Better check out TikTok or spend more money! It was time to take Silver to task!
The idea of highlights-based viewing to save money is wild, but that doesn’t mean the topic isn’t relevant. The actual context wasn’t as bad as the clips made it out to be. Silver’s comments were a … highlight … of a larger answer to a question about whether he thought about access to the league for fans.
It’s not that the NBA doesn’t care about access to games and how much that could cost across multiple platforms. It’s just that Silver doesn’t believe most can or will watch that much basketball.
“Most people can only consume so many games,” Silver said. “By way of one example in these new media deals, we’re going from essentially 15 exposures on broadcast television to 75. So to the extent somebody wants to put a little rabbit ears on their television, you can still get 75 marquee games in essence for free in the marketplace.”
That’s a lot of basketball, but it doesn’t mean all is fine. I lose count of how many subscriptions it will take to follow the NBA closely. ESPN, Amazon Prime, Peacock, NBC and ABC will carry games as part of the 11-year, $75 billion media rights deal that begins this season.
There’s also NBA League Pass if you want access to the rest of out-of-market games that aren’t televised nationally – and that’s not free. And this doesn’t include the need for regional sports networks for local coverage. Silver said more local games would be on network television for some teams. That matters because nationally televised games lean heavily on big-market and popular teams. Not everyone wants a large dose of Lakers, Celtics and Warriors.
Silver also touted the All-Star Game returning to network television with a Ryder Cup-style format (U.S. vs. international players) in the latest attempt to provoke more than minimum effort from players and garner some interest from viewers.
So, does the NBA think about access to the games for fans?
“The ultimate answer is we think a lot about it,” Silver said. “We know we have mass appeal on a global basis. We’re literally reaching billions of people, and we don’t want to disenfranchise people by working with partners that are creating price points that make it inaccessible to them.”
The Last 24
What’s next for Angel Reese?
🏀 Sitting out. Angel Reese missed the Chicago Sky’s last regular-season game with a back injury. Is it possible she has played her last game for the franchise?
🏀 Collins has cancer. Jason Collins, 46, the NBA’s first openly gay player, is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.
🏀 Change of plans? Did Luka Dončić’s EuroBasket play shift the Lakers’ roster priorities? By the way, we’ll know our tournament finalists by day’s end.
🏀 No voice? Mark Cuban says Mavs GM Nico Harrison didn’t value his input on franchise decisions.
Latest on Leonard
Another podcast, another Kawhi revelation
The LA Clippers’ offseason continues to get more interesting thanks to the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast. It started Sept. 3 when Torre reported that the Clippers used an endorsement deal between Leonard and Aspiration, a “green bank” that dealt with carbon credits, to pay $28 million and “circumvent” the salary cap with a no-show agreement.
The latest episode reported that, at a time when Aspiration was losing money and laying off employees, Clippers minority owner Dennis J. Wong made a nearly $2 million investment in Aspiration. The company then paid Leonard $1.75 million. Since Torre’s original report, The Athletic and Boston Sports Journal reported that Leonard received $20 million in stock from company co-founder Joe Sanberg’s personal stock options.
For all the internet sleuths out there, that’s a total of $49.75 million worth of cash and stock options. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer’s investment in Aspiration was reportedly $50 million.
Ballmer hasn’t helped matters with his public statements. Is anyone buying that Ballmer, one of the world’s richest men, was conned?
The NBA is investigating, and with each Torre podcast, the league might have rival executives and fans wondering if the Clippers will be punished. Silver said Wednesday that the burden of proof is on the NBA before any punishment is levied.
Doing nothing as reports circulate doesn’t help the league, which has always been a hotbed for conspiracy theories fueled by situations like the Tim Donaghy scandal. If Torre continues to dig and find evidence against the Clippers, the NBA had better find just as much in favor of the Clippers if it wants to persuade the public and others in the league that nothing wrong happened here.
What we know: Who is Dennis Wong?
“No Free Lunch”: Ndamukong Suh and company delve into the Kawhi situation
WNBA Playoffs on Deck
Eight teams, one goal
The WNBA regular season, the first 44-game campaign in the league’s history, ended Thursday. Here is a look at the first-round matchups, with all four series beginning Sunday:
- No. 1 Minnesota Lynx vs. No. 8 Golden State Valkyries (1 p.m. ET, ESPN)
- No. 2 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 7 Seattle Storm (10 p.m. ET, ESPN)
- No. 3 Atlanta Dream vs. No. 6 Indiana Fever (3 p.m. ET, ABC)
- No. 4 Phoenix Mercury vs. No. 5 New York Liberty (5 p.m. ET, ESPN)
After the 44-game regular-season slate, this year’s postseason will also be the first look at the WNBA’s new playoff format. First-round series will feature a 1-1-1 best-of-three format, guaranteeing that each team has at least one home game. It only makes sense. Imagine if the Valkyries weren’t guaranteed at least one home game after making the playoffs in their first season on the court.
The semifinals will be a best-of-five series. The WNBA Finals will be best-of-seven for the first time.
That change for the finals was necessary. It’s only right that the two best teams have the opportunity to play a seven-game series for a championship.
The league is growing, with expansion teams in Portland and Toronto looking to repeat Golden State’s success starting next season. As a result, it’s only right that the postseason grows, too.
Storylines to watch: What to keep an eye on during these playoffs
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(Top photo of Adam Silver: Mark J. Rebilas/ USA Today Sports)