The NBA Finals begin Thursday for the first time outside of the United States. The Warriors will go to Toronto for Game 1. Is it good for the NBA that there will be a Finals in Canada?
"The first NBA game ever took place in Toronto...Knicks vs. the Huskies. November of 1946. It's been a long time coming," NBA commissioner Adam Silver told WFAN's Mike Francesa Wednesday.
"It's highly significant that we have one of our NBA Finals teams that's based outside of the United States. More importantly it demonstrates that the size of the market has become much less relevant."
While the Raptors and Warriors duke it out this June in the NBA Finals, the Knicks will await until the NBA Draft on June 20th when they will make the No. 3 pick. The Knicks didn't have the Patrick Ewing luck in the lottery, when their 14% chance at the top pick resulted in the third pick instead.
"I wasn't the guy holding the cards," Silver said. "Putting that aside, before the lottery happened, people in New York would come up to me and say what are the Knicks chances? I said 14%. It's math. Therefore it's an 86% chance they weren't going to get the first pick. Under our system, the Knicks got fairly lucky. They ended up with the third pick. If you look at the projections at who the top three picks are, at least on paper the Knicks have done very well."
Silver also discussed a potential change to NBA All Star Weekend, which has undoubtedly lost its luster over time.
"It's no secret, the All Star Game itself has become a bit of an afterthought. If the players aren't into it in the way they once were. The fans aren't into it in the way they once were. Maybe again, let's use that All Star weekend, the days we have off before it, the days we have off afterwards, and maybe we can create a more interesting competition."
Francesa and Silver discussed a multitde of other topics from legal gambling to social media to potential changes in the league and much more.
You can hear the entire in-depth conversation between Francesa and Silver in the audio player above.
