NBA Commissioner Adam Silver seemed to lean toward retaining the "Golden State" in the Warriors' name even after a move to San Francisco during remarks to the media before Game 1 of the NBA Finals Thursday.
Prior to Game 1 of the NBA Finals, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the media and fielded questions ranging from the NBA’s concussion protocol to the NBA’s confidence in FIBA in light of the recent FIFA scandal.
As poised as ever, Silver assured confidence in every aspect of the NBA, its future, and how it plans to address and stay up to date with the best possible practices.
The future of the NBA, Silver said, looks bright if modeled after teams like the Warriors.
Players like Stephen Curry and LeBron James, who are the star power of this year’s Finals, have become a bright spot for the sports world that is too often clouded by scandal. Silver said he is encouraged by what he is seeing:
“I think that the NBA has become defined not just by the incredible competition on the floor, but what we’re doing in communities throughout the world and not just in our team cities.”
Silver continued to praise the Warriors franchise, making note of the way ownership has been a large presence in all decisions made:
“Top to bottom in their organization, they’re top-notch. They went about it in a particular way, and Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, in addition to having an outstanding group of partners and ownership, they brought in first-class people to run their organizations. They’re very hands on in terms of the management.”
Silver also said he would be speaking to Warriors president Rick Welts about the Warriors San Francisco arena plans as well as visiting the site during his time in the Bay Area, adding that the Warriors are in desperate need of a new arena.
While carefully making sure to say the decision of the Warriors future name — whether it stay Golden State or change to San Francisco — is ultimately up to ownership, Silver seemed to have the opinion that it should stay Golden State:
“From the league standpoint we’ve always seen this team as the Bay Area’s team … I think there is a reason they are the Golden State Warriors, they’re not the Oakland Warriors. … I have complete confidence in Joe and Peter to make the right decision for their franchise and this community.”
Follow @SFBay and @NBASarah on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of the Golden State Warriors.
Last modified June 7, 2015 12:41 am
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