Adam Silver press conference discussed travel ban, Charles Oakley, and whether the Earth is flat

NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the media in his annual press conference at All-Star Weekend in New Orleans on Saturday. The press conference is the regular time each year that Silver broadly addresses the many issues that are affecting the NBA and its future.

Silver led with an opening statement that discussed the Developmental League, which will be renamed the G-League and host new two-way contracts under the new collective bargaining agreement. Silver also talked about New Orleans as a host city, after the game was moved from Charlotte last year, and said the NBA has never been better.

“The state of the league is as good as it’s ever been,” he said. “The competition on the floor, the diversity of the players. For the fist time this year, we made a somewhat significant leap this season with the international players in the league. We climbed from 20 percent of players born outside of the United States, to 25 percent. And those numbers are only going to continue to grow.”

Here are more comments that Silver made in his press conference on Saturday.

Silver addressed President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which was recently struck down by the federal court system.

“I do have concerns about travel bans. Putting aside the justification for them for a second,” Silver said, “we are a business based on global mobility. As I said earlier, 25 percent of our players were born outside of the U.S. We do a tremendous amount of business on a global scale. If you think about what the NBA stands for, it’s the very best all coming together to perform at the highest level. So government restrictions on travel, I am concerned about. It goes against the fundamental values and the fundamental ingredients of what makes a great NBA.”

He has had discussions with North Carolina’s new governor, who (like the majority of the city of Charlotte itself) was against the anti-LBGTQ law that prompted the NBA to change the location for this game to New Orleans.

“We’re not involved directly with legislators,” Silver said. “I have talked to Governor (Roy) Cooper, the new North Carolina governor, to express our desire to return to North Carolina next year for our All-Star Game.”

Cooper’s platform ran against the “bathroom bill,” but talks to repeal it so far fell through late last year. It’s not clear if Silver meant the 2018 All-Star Game when he said “next year,” or simply the future. Since the 2018 game is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, it seems unlikely Charlotte would host it again so soon.

When asked about other similar bills that are being drafted in states like Texas, and whether that would affect the NBA scheduling events like the All-Star Game there, Silver gave a diplomatic answer.

“I’m not ready to draw bright lines,” he said. “Clearly, though, the laws of the state, ordinance and cities are a factor.”

However, later in his answer, Silver also said this: “Our league-wide values, in terms of equality and inclusion, are paramount to this league and the NBA family. Those jurisdictions considering legislation similar to HB2 are on notice.”

A couple weeks ago, Charles Oakley was arrested at a New York Knicks game, escalating already bad relations between him and Knicks owner James Dolan. While Oakley and Dolan met with Silver in an attempt to resolve their differences the next week, and Dolan’s ban from Madison Square Garden was lifted, recent media appearances by Dolan and later Oakley made it clear they are still at odds.

“I did not think they were resolved,” Silver clarified of his meeting with the two. “I thought they were on the right track.”

Silver expressed disappointment that they don’t appear to be on that track anymore.

After Kyrie Irving claimed the world is flat (which it isn’t), Silver was asked about it. Here’s his answer.