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Tim Bontemps
SAN FRANCISCO — NBA commissioner Adam Silver says he believes the Dallas Mavericks had no “ulterior motives” behind their decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers and that the franchise’s fans should have faith in the team in the wake of the shocking deal.
“I have absolutely no knowledge or belief there were any ulterior motives,” Silver said during his annual news conference before All-Star Saturday night festivities at Chase Center. “There’s no doubt in my mind that the Dumont and Adelson families bought that team to keep it in Dallas. I have no doubt whatsoever that they’re committed to the long-term success of that franchise.
“In terms of the Dallas fans, all I can say to them is, again, time will tell whether it was a smart trade, but I think they should believe in their organization. Their organization truly made a trade that they believed was in the best interest of the organization, and in many cases, again, it doesn’t mean they were right or wrong, but it’s very difficult to put yourself in their shoes. They are living with the situation. They have a philosophical belief on what’s necessary ultimately to win championships, and I’m not in a position to second-guess that.”
Silver said he was surprised when Dallas sent Doncic to the Lakers for a package led by fellow All-NBA star Anthony Davis.
Other than the general managers of both teams — Nico Harrison in Dallas and Rob Pelinka in Los Angeles — virtually everyone else was stunned by the deal, which came together shortly after the Lakers had one of their best performances of the season in a blowout win over the New York Knicks two weeks ago.
Silver said he likes Doncic, whom he first met while Doncic was playing for Real Madrid, and is empathetic to Mavericks fans about the deal. But he also believes Harrison and team owner Patrick Dumont deserve the benefit of the doubt.
“In terms of anger with the fan base, I’m empathetic,” Silver said. “I understand it. Dallas was in the Finals last year. I’ve already said this before: I like Luka very much. … It seems genuinely, truly authentic that he was stunned and disappointed. You could see it in his body language.
“Having said all that, I also am sympathetic to the Mavericks organization. I’ve known Nico Harrison for a long time from his prior tenure at Nike, and I’ve gotten to be close to Patrick Dumont, our new governor in Dallas. I can say one thing for sure: Whether or not history will ultimately judge this as a smart trade, they did what they thought was in the best interest of their organization.”
Silver touched on several other topics, including:
• After Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez won their arbitration ruling against Glen Taylor in their quest to purchase the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this week, Silver said he doesn’t “see any reason why” the two won’t be approved by the NBA board of governors.
Silver also said he and the league are waiting to see whether Taylor appeals the arbitration decision.
“I think, though, that A-Rod, certainly Marc Lore, are well-known to the league at this point,” Silver said. “They’ve already been vetted and approved as minority owners. I think they understood that the league had no role in this arbitration. That was something they had agreed to as part of their purchase agreement.
“I think now that the arbitration has been resolved, they will — as I said, Glen Taylor has a decision to make. If he chooses to appeal it, obviously we will wait until there’s finality as to that process, and if he doesn’t, we will move forward right away and continue the remaining part of our vetting process and then it will go to the governors for a vote.”
Asked if Lore and Rodriguez would get the team if Taylor doesn’t appeal, Silver said: “The only reason I’m not going to answer that is that I don’t want to turn the board of governors role into a rubber stamp. That is a decision they need to make. We should conclude the vetting process. I know Marc and Alex understand that. That’s a process that every governor in this league has gone through.
“I will say standing here today, I don’t see any reason why it won’t be approved, but again, we need to follow the process.”
For the sale to go through, at least 23 of the 30 owners have to approve — a decision that could happen as soon as the end of March.
• After Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu created the lasting moment from All-Star Weekend a year ago with their 3-point shooting battle, many expected the event would return this year in the Bay Area, particularly with Curry playing for the Warriors and Ionescu being from Northern California.
That did not happen, however.
Silver said everyone involved felt it would be “forced” to repeat it and that the “magic” from last year’s event was gone.
“It just seemed like coming back here, as exciting as it might have been, that this just wasn’t the right time to do it,” Silver said. “There’s no more to it than that. They’re both friends. They’re wonderful people. I’m sure there’s a part of them that recognizes they may be disappointing people, but I think they all felt, and I agreed with them, that it just didn’t feel right in the moment.
“We looked at different permutations and ways to do it, and as I said — I’ll be the first one to say, at the end, it just felt forced. It lost that special feeling that it had last year.”
• The Lakers were involved in another recent consequential transaction, initially trading for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams, but Los Angeles rescinded the deal after Williams didn’t pass the team’s physical.
Silver said the Hornets have not filed a formal protest. He added that although rescinded trades don’t happen often, he doesn’t anticipate a change in the rules regarding deals.
“We understand that in the back-and-forth of teams and trades that to the extent we can reduce uncertainty, that’s a positive thing, and obviously, I mentioned before that for players who are involved in trades, how disruptive it can be,” Silver said. “I am sure it’s equally disruptive to think you have been traded then not to have been traded, disruptive for the player, disruptive for their teammates.
“We’ll look at it. I’d say it’s one of those areas when it comes to the health and well-being of our players, medical science, there have been incredible developments, and this is a rule sort of as interpreted now, hasn’t changed for many decades at the league office.”
• Silver addressed the state of the game as he has done several times over the past few months.
This time, Silver said he was happy with the current product, adding that though the league is looking at things, there’s no need to make a change.
“I think the state of the game is excellent,” he said. “I think it’s the media’s role, the fans’ role, it’s perfectly appropriate to be critical of the game, and I find it very helpful. I’m not one of those people who said I don’t read criticism. I try to read it all, frankly, and we try to absorb it at the league office.
“Many great ideas have come from outside this league. Even some of the things that we’ve done recently over the last several years. Things like a play-in tournament, things like the in-season tournament, which became known as the NBA Cup. I can’t claim those were original ideas. Those were things, whether we saw other leagues doing that, media talking about them. So we’ve made plenty of tweaks over the years.
“We’re paying a lot of attention to it. I’m never going to say there isn’t room for improvement. We’ll continue to look at it and study it, but I am happy with the state of the game right now.”
