TORONTO— It was fitting that discussions of international basketball and global opportunities dominated NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s annual news conference Thursday ahead of the Finals.
After all, the first game between the Warriors and Raptors marked the first Finals game ever played outside the United States.
Silver spoke at length about the history of the NBA and its ties to Canada: Dr. James Naismith hailed from Ontario before inventing the game in 1891, and what is considered the first NBA game was played in 1946 between the Knicks and Huskies in Toronto. He then answered a series of questions about the growth of basketball across borders, from Europe to China to Africa and beyond.
“I think symbolically,” Silver said, “having our first Finals outside of the United States maybe has a big impact on countries that follow the NBA but don’t have teams, whether in Asia or Latin America. So I think when we look at the NBA schedule over time, I mean, it’s definitely kind of a marker.
In the maple leaf context of Games 1 and 2 of these finals, there is an international flavor to the teams involved. The Warrrios have Andrew Bogut (Australia) and Jonas Jerebko (Sweden), while the Raptors have Pascal Siakam (Cameroon), Serge Ibaka (Republic of Congo), OG Anunoby (UK), Marc Gasol (Spain) and Chris Boucher (Canada). Masai Ujiri, Toronto’s president of basketball operations, is originally from Nigeria.
Of Africa in particular, Silver said: “I think it absolutely speaks to the opportunities in (its) 55 or so countries. I think this is one of the places in the world where we see huge opportunities. Certainly China too. We start next season with matches in Mumbai, India, but in Africa we have chosen to launch a league.
The Basketball Africa League, comprising 12 teams operating in collaboration with world governing body FIBA, is expected to begin operations in January. Qualifying tournaments will be held to determine these clubs, with the participation of teams from Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia .
Silver cited digital media as the driving force behind sports in Africa, “a continent of over a billion people, where there are around 700 million cell phones. This has been revolutionary in terms of Africans being able to watch our matches in real time on portable devices.
But wait, there’s more…
Silver spoke about China, where the current political issue of tariffs could have implications for the NBA’s business. The commissioner had multiple conversations with former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, now president of the Chinese Basketball Association.
“It’s something that Yao and I have discussed, where we can use basketball, maybe in the same way that ping pong was used in the Richard Nixon era,” Silver said, ” that there might be something called ‘basketball diplomacy’.
“And this is an area in which our two countries have an excellent history of cooperation, in which we work closely with the Chinese Basketball Federation on player and referee development.
The Basketball World Cup will be held in China in September and before that, the Chinese national team will participate in the Las Vegas Summer League in July. These and other initiatives will likely spur the continued growth of gaming in this country.
“We are also building academies in China to help develop young players,” Silver said. “With Yao’s experience in the NBA, he sees how it’s done, not just in the United States but elsewhere in the world. I think he understands that given the large number of young boys and girls playing basketball, we can do more to develop elite players.
There is also plenty of room to grow the game in Canada. Silver didn’t offer false hope that expansion would soon bring the country’s second franchise to Vancouver or Montreal. But he hasn’t escaped the fact that his league’s finals have invaded Toronto – while the NHL Stanley Cup finals are being played (Boston-St. Louis).
“I’m a fan,” Silver said. “(NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman worked in the NBA years ago when I started, so we’re generally supportive of other sports. And the way we look at the NBA or our programming is we’re competing with everything else on every other channel, every other form of entertainment. So we’re not necessarily focusing on where hockey stands in relation to the NBA.
“So I pay attention to the Stanley Cup. …It’s a great country, Canada. There are a lot of opportunities.
Among other topics:
• Silver offered his best wishes to Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who remains hospitalized after suffering a stroke Sunday in Detroit.
• A question about Drake was inevitable, and Silver talked about balancing the musical artist’s unofficial status as a Raptors “ambassador” with the very real issue of on-court safety for players and coaches of the NBA. Drake was caught giving a quick and unexpected neck massage to Toronto coach Nick Nurse during a recent game. The league office made review the incident.
“We understood that in this case, given Drake’s relationship with the team, it’s not the same as any fan being on the field and touching a coach,” Silver said. “But I think it’s a clear and absolute line that we have to draw.”
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Steve Aschburner has been writing about the NBA since 1980. You can email him herefind his archives here And follow him on Twitter.
The views expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA, its clubs, or Turner Broadcasting.
