Sources – NBA commissioner Adam Silver finalizing extension

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is finalizing a contract extension that’s anticipated to take him by means of the tip of the last decade, sources advised ESPN on Saturday.

The completion of formal negotiations with the board of governors on a brand new deal retains Silver — nearing his tenth anniversary as commissioner — heading in the right direction to pursue the NBA’s subsequent set of main goals: a brand new media rights deal and league growth.

Largely completely different than his predecessor David Stern, Silver has constructed a popularity of pursuing extra consensus and partnership with possession, administration and gamers. He has been capable of keep respect — and even reputation — amongst these constituencies regardless of troublesome selections and negotiations.

Silver, 61, has pushed some dramatic initiatives, together with the introduction of the play-in and in-season tournaments, participant participation laws, draft lottery reform that has disincentivized groups from racing to the underside for high draft picks and steadily rising franchise monetary valuations. The implementation of the league’s freedom of motion emphasis in 2019-20 has more and more gassed up the league’s scoring, together with a 2023-24 marketing campaign that up to now contains 4 of the highest 10 offensive groups in NBA historical past.

Silver accomplished a brand new collective bargaining take care of the Nationwide Basketball Gamers Affiliation in March that assures labor peace by means of a minimum of 2029 and a reshaped wage cap system that’s anticipated to ship small- and midsize-market organizations a greater likelihood to compete with big-market franchises. The league had been pursuing an financial construction that might assist unfold expertise round to extra groups — and that seems to be occurring now.

Silver has proven a capability to navigate crises — most notably by suspending the NBA season following Rudy Gobert’s constructive check for COVID-19 in 2020 and main the best way for an American sport and societal response to the opening weeks of the pandemic. Finally, Silver devised the Orlando bubble to restart and full that 2020 season, salvaging tv income and participant salaries.

Silver additionally oversaw bans, suspensions and the eventual gross sales of groups by two problematic NBA homeowners — the LA Clippers’ Donald Sterling and the Phoenix Suns’ Robert Sarver.

Silver spent eight years because the league’s deputy commissioner earlier than succeeding Stern in 2014 and was a consensus selection to exchange him when Stern introduced his retirement date in 2012.