Adam Silver covers variety of topics at All-Star Saturday

LOS ANGELES – Typically a rite of spring, “tanking” – that unsavory tactic of teams attempting to improve their odds in the Draft lottery – has reared its head in winter this season.  

Rarely if ever has NBA commissioner Adam Silver had to deal with or talk about tanking with so much of the schedule remaining. But what traditionally is a March or April issue has bled into February, with eager teams salivating over a 2026 Draft class considered exceptionally talented and deep.  

Silver already dealt with it twice last week, fining the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers for improperly withholding players from games or parts of games. And he addressed it again at length Saturday at the Intuit Dome in his annual All-Star Weekend news conference: 

“Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory? Yes, [in] my view.”  

How bad is it? Fans of teams vying in a “race to the bottom” of the conference standings to qualify for additional lottery balls have bought into the upside-down competition.  

“They’re actually rooting for their teams, in some cases, to be bad,” Silver said.  

The Jazz were fined $500,000 Thursday for “conduct detrimental to the league” after coach Will Hardy benched stars Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the fourth quarters of games against Orlando Feb. 7 and Miami Feb. 9.  

The Pacers were fined $100,000 for holding out star forward Pascal Siakam and two other starters in violation of the Player Participation Policy. An independent physician determined that all could have played under the medical standards of the policy.  

In a statement Thursday, Silver warned teams that the league would “respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games.” He added Saturday that further penalties could be utilized, up to and including the forfeiture of draft picks.  

While increasing its vigilance in the way teams go about losing, the league will seek alternative ideas to the existing lottery and draft process. Getting young talent to the neediest teams is the cornerstone of any sports draft, but that unravels when the worst-performing franchises wind up being simply the craftiest or most shameless. 

Economists will tell you that whatever you incentivize in a system, you’ll get more of. The current setup incentivizes losing.  

“It’s time to take a fresh look at this to see to whether that’s an antiquated way of going about doing it,” the commissioner said. “Ultimately, we need a system to fairly … distribute players. 

“What we’re doing, what we’re seeing now is not working.”  

Silver answered questions on a variety of other topics in the hour leading up to Saturday’s showcase events, including:  

Expansion may be on horizon

Silver had talked in the past about 2026 being the likely year in which expansion – upping the league’s membership to perhaps, 32 – would get addressed. The last rounds came in 1995 when the Raptors and Grizzlies were added and in 2004 when the Hornets were re-born in Charlotte after the original entry was moved to New Orleans.  

At the moment, it sounds as if it’s a step away from being a step away. Silver said the Board of Governors will further discuss expansion at its March meeting, with any plans coming after that. Eventually the league’s expansion committee will open up the process to markets and potential owners bidding for franchises.  

Seattle and Las Vegas generally have been considered front-runners for admission, though Silver didn’t address specifics Saturday.  

“It doesn’t have to be a two-team expansion. Frankly, it doesn’t have to be any number of teams,” he said. Relocation of an existing team is “not on the table right now,” he added.  

No update on the Clippers

The investigation is ongoing into allegations the team and owner Steve Ballmer circumvented salary-cap rules by investing in an outside business that paid Clippers star Kawhi Leonard in an individual sponsorship deal. The presence of All-Star Weekend in the Clippers’ impressive home arena has played no role in the case, being handled for the NBA by the Manhattan law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.  

No update on gambling charges

Similarly, federal investigations of gambling charges against several NBA personnel remain pending. Players Terry Rozier and Malik Beasley, former player and assistant coach Damon Jones, and Portland coach Chauncey Billups have been sidelined all season in the sports betting probes.   

Getting late in the WNBA

Collective bargaining talks between WNBA players and owners continue, as the May 8 start to the season inches closer. Noting the need to reach and ratify an agreement, conduct an expansion and a college draft and prep for the season, Silver said: “We’re getting awfully close to the 11th hour when it comes to bargaining.” 

NBA Europe on track for 2027-28?

Silver said plans for the creation of a European-based subsidiary league are on track, with play potentially beginning in less than two years. 

“You have amazing basketball right now in Europe, historic clubs competing at a high level,” he said. “How we launch the league might not look how it will several years later. One of the things we’re focused on is building a new arena infrastructure in Europe, as well, which is badly needed.” 

The commissioner said that just as the NBA is a North American league with a global following, his expectation is that NBA Europe would generate similarly widespread interest across continents.  

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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.