Sam Amick of USA Today went to China with the Warriors and Timberwolves and got some gems from NBA commissioner Adam Silver. There was some continued push from Silver on Mexico City as an expansion option. (I think Mexico City is No. 2 on the expansion list behind only Seattle.) There was also this statement:
Actually, there *is* something magical about an 82-game NBA season
Good morning. We have that and more in Friday’s NBA newsletter.
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“There’s nothing magical about 82 games.”
Silver suggested that the NBA would consider changing the length of the regular season as league officials learn more about player health and if travel becomes more cumbersome due to international expansion.
I’d like to push back on that specific statement that there is nothing magical about 82 games, though.
What’s magical about 82 games is that it is longer than whatever new season the NBA can dream up. Whether it be 58 games (play everyone twice), 62 games (play everyone twice with two expansion teams), 70 games, 75 games: They are all less than 82.
That means x fewer games to collect ticket revenue, x fewer games to collect parking revenue, and x fewer games to sell $11 craft beers and $80 jerseys. Several teams now own their own regional sports network in whole or partially. Reducing the season length means x times three fewer hours of programming to sell against.
It’s a nice idea: that the NBA is so invested in player health that it would set tens of millions of dollars on fire to reduce the season density. But it’s really unlikely because there is something magical about 82 games: It’s a bigger number than the other options.
Jersey Week continues! Our staff owns some straaaange jerseys. Meanwhile, Charlotte Wilder searches for the perfect Charlotte Hornets jersey. Here are eight fictional jerseys worn by Fabolous that we wish were real.
Nicolas Batum will miss eight-to-12 weeks with a torn elbow ligament. The good news is that the Hornets have good dep — wait a minute, no. The Hornets have horrible backcourt depth. But they are in the East, praise be to Plumlee. Can Malik Monk step in?
Shaq’s son Shareef O’Neal might flip his commitment from Arizona to Kentucky now that ‘Zona is in hot water in the FBI investigation. This amuses me because it implies that there’s no chance Kentucky could get dragged into a scandal with John Calipari at the helm.
Those curmudgeons Chris Paul and Michael Jordan hated the awesome 2017 NBA All-Star Game, where scoring records were shattered. So they came up with the playground rules reform. Uh, thanks?
Shout out to Norman Powell for his reasonable four-year, $42 million extension with the Raptors. I’m not saying this is the sequel to Stephen Curry’s rookie extension, but I’m not not saying that.
The WNBA season just ended, and Whitney Medworth is already mourning the loss of Candace Parker’s no-look passes.
LaMarcus Aldridge and Gregg Popovich had a summit where it seems as though things were worked out. We’ll see.
Was Brandon Ingram’s late-season surge last year real, and how can that launch him forward this year?
You may remember a few days ago when we linked to a Players’ Tribune piece where Jeremy Lin discussed his carefully considered decision to wear dreads this season. I don’t think Kenyon Martin read it or else his Instagram posts ripping Lin’s decision might have included the line, “Bro, what about cultural appropriation?” Because that is a great line.
I digress. Martin was extremely uncharitable with Lin and seemed to call for the Nets franchise to do something about it (?!?!). Lin popped in the comments and showed remarkable grace in arguing for unity and when pointing out that Kenyon Martin has Chinese characters tattooed on his body. After the Nets’ preseason game, Lin admonished any of his fans who lobbed slurs or insults at Martin, in Lin’s defense.
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