July 17, 2026
WHEN: Today, Thursday, July 16, 2026
WHERE: CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit
Following is the unofficial transcript of an interview with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver that took place today, Thursday, July 16, during the CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit at Fanatics Fest in New York City.
Mandatory credit: CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: OK, folks, we have our finale, and we could not be thrilled, more thrilled, I should say, for what we have on offer. The NBA, as you know, has never been more valuable, more globally relevant, especially here in New York, after wrapping up a record-breaking season. Go, Knicks. What is next for the most influential brand in sports? Here to talk about all of it is the commissioner, Adam Silver. Adam.
SORKIN: So, this is your walk-on music.
ADAM SILVER: It's all right.
SORKIN: There you go.
SILVER: Thank you.
SORKIN: How you doing? It's good to see you.
SILVER: Great. Thank you.
SORKIN: We were discussing backstage what the walk-on music for Adam really should be.
SILVER: I liked it. Rich, I heard Rich. I was listening before when he said he asked people to stop drinking and mingling. So this is now, people, please go back to drinking.
SORKIN: No, no, no.
SORKIN: We're going to get serious here. But I want to start with this. And this is a serious question. I don't know what you can tell us. But LeBron was sitting in your chair—
SILVER: Right.
SORKIN: Just about an hour-and-a-half ago. And, of course, Rich tried to get a little bit out of him. But this is going to have a huge impact wherever he goes, and how you, as the commissioner of this, think about that.
SILVER: So, I guess all politics are local. The way I think about it is, we have to finish up the schedule.
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: And where LeBron plays will affect the schedule. So I would like him to make his announcement already, so we can finish the schedule, because, as you might imagine, the teams are calling us, the networks are calling us, and everybody wants to lock in the schedule. But it will influence how we set the schedule, how we set opening week, Christmas Day, etc. So I need him to make a decision. And, but the direct answer is, I have no inside information.
SORKIN: No inside, do you have any inkling?
SILVER: I have my own inkling, but it's not based—
SORKIN: What is it?
SILVER: It's not based on anything that LeBron or Rich have told me. I'm not going to share it with you, but I'm just saying, it's not, it's, I don't know.
SORKIN: OK, but let me ask you this then. Let's assume you don't know. Are you rooting...
SILVER: No, I don't know.
SORKIN: Are you rooting for one team over another? Not about the team, but about the story.
SILVER: Yes. There's certain -- there's certain stories that I prefer over others, and even on his behalf. But he's going to be 42 this fall. It's amazing what he's done for the sport, for the league, and he deserves exactly what -- the opportunities that were presented to him to be able to make his own decision on what's best for him and his family. So I completely respect that. But, as I said, I think on behalf of the league, I think there are certain storylines that may be better than others, but I don't want to prejudge it. Let's see what he does.
SORKIN: OK, let me try two storylines out on you. So, one storyline is—
SILVER: Keep drinking, yes.
SORKIN: One storyline is, he goes home.
SILVER: Yes.
SORKIN: He goes home.
SILVER: Let's admit that's a great storyline.
SORKIN: It's a great storyline.
SILVER: Right.
SORKIN: You like that storyline.
SILVER: Among others, yes.
SORKIN: OK, the, another storyline is, he teams up with Steph and he tries to get himself a ring. You like that storyline?
SILVER: Well, the only part about it is, and, honestly, I mean, he played for Steve Kerr for the Olympic team. He's close to Draymond. Playing with playing with Steph is wonderful. I don't think LeBron at this point in his career -- and I think he presumably would say the same thing. He doesn't have to chase a ring. So I don't think -- it would be different. We have seen legendary great players who, for whatever reason, never won a championship over the course of their career, and at the very end of the career went to a team very openly thought, well, this is something missing from my resume. I'd like to get a ring. I mean, LeBron's career is complete. I think, on his behalf, whatever that storyline is, I think he should go somewhere he's going to -- there's going to be true joy around the game. I mean, one of the things about LeBron, I mean, physically, he's so amazing. I mean, for discussion there's been over the years, it's not -- we sort of move past a lot of load management stuff and guys have incentive to play. But that was never an issue with LeBron. I mean, it's amazing. He's been relatively injury free. Look it, at this point, like 41 last season, played a full season of games, played into the playoffs, plays hard every night, plays defense. And I think the greatest thing about these athletes -- and they were talking about the World Cup before and -- the Ronaldo and Messi and these guys. Like, I'm -- I don't -- I'm a huge fan, but I don't understand the game nearly as well, global soccer. But the joy it brings, when you see people do things at a high level, when I watch you do what you do at a high level, it makes you want to do better. It makes you -- for whatever -- you're not going to do what they do on the field or the pitch or whatever else or the court, but I think you take away a certain energy from them, a certain hopefulness. And that's what's so great about these athletes. And I think LeBron -- even for the younger players in this league, I remember when -- I have been at this a long time. I remember when LeBron was a young player around a national team, and it was -- there was a breakfast. I distinctly remember this. It was one of the national teams that Mike Krzyzewski was coaching. And the guys met for breakfast, and Kobe came in with a trainer, towels, sweaty, and everybody -- and I remember LeBron said to the person next to him, like, where's he coming from? They said, oh, he had already, like, practiced. They were going to have breakfast. Practice was later. And Kobe had gone, whatever it was, like 6:00 a.m. and had already worked out. And I remember LeBron saying, damn. Like, OK, like, when the best are around the best, that gets lost some time in some of these national competitions. They come away from -- and learn from each other. And part of it is left unsaid. I mean, I'm sure, you and I have had those experiences in our lives. And I think, again, for LeBron, at this point of his career, I think what we want the fans to see too is like the genuine joy that they have. And I think, for somebody like LeBron, I mean, he's -- he's not coming back for the money. And that's why that -- to your point, the latter part of your storyline in terms of the ring, I'm sure he would love to win another championship. But I think, most importantly, I think I would love and fans would like him to see, where he's playing with a group of players and for a coach that he really wants to be around, and he's going to -- and the community's going to get great joy from it, and he's going to get great joy from it.
SORKIN: Talking about joy, there's a lot of joy in this room and in this city right now because of the Knicks championship. And I know you're not allowed to root for teams, but you're a New Yorker here. And, by the way, it's also the biggest media market in the country. How big a deal—
SILVER: In the world.
SORKIN: How big a deal is this for basketball when you think about the impact of it and what you think it may or may not portend for next season?
SILVER: Yes, so I will begin with New York. I mean, so we're both New Yorkers, we both were born in New York. You're less than 53, so you weren't around for the first one or the first two. I was. I would just say, for this city -- and we both lived here most of our lives. I mean, I don't remember ever seeing anything like this, and we have been around for basketball, hockey, football championships. Part of it, I think, is the 53-year gap. Part of it is, it's a city game, an arena in the heart of Manhattan. And I think credit to this team, to Jalen Brunson, to the leadership, the roster, everything, the way this team was put together by Leon Rose and Wes. I mean, it's -- like, back to that word, you're right, joy, I mean, I think people -- like, there's very few things that really create a sense of community anymore.
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: And this is one of them. And when it all comes together the way it did in New York, I mean -- and you and I talked about it along the way. I mean, obviously, it was a fantastic experience in the arena, but only a minuscule percentage of the fans can experience that. But the number of people I knew just as New Yorkers who were going to viewing parties—
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: And not just the big things on the street and everything, but almost everyone wanted to be with a group of people to watch those games. Same thing in San Antonio. And so you saw -- you had -- controversial to some, but President Trump came to a game, but Mayor Mamdani was there too. Like, how -- like, the way the community came together for this, the way that people seemingly parked their divisions and said this is all something we can come together and root for, and, again, a team really, like one that I think you really felt that you could cheer for. And, by the way, same with San Antonio. And I have said this too. The other thing that's really cool about it is that you had essentially the biggest market and the smallest or the second smallest market in the league. It wasn't even a storyline, right? The narrative wasn't big market against small market. It was Victor Wembanyama—
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: San Antonio Spurs, their heritage of championships, and then the Knick team. So I love the story. And, also, we both travel a lot. What's really cool about it too, I mean, not only are there New Yorkers everywhere, but even for people who have no connection in New York, it's a huge national and global story, I mean, for people who love the game.
SORKIN: Let me ask you. You talk about big market, small market, which actually raises an interesting question also about the affinity that fans have, not just towards teams, but also towards players.
SILVER: Right.
SORKIN: So there's a big debate right now.
SILVER: Right.
SORKIN: James Dolan, by the way, has been critical about what's called the second apron in the—
SILVER: I don't know he was critical of it. He said he didn't want to cross it. I don't know if he's critical—
SORKIN: He doesn't want to cross it.
SILVER: Right.
SORKIN: And this goes to salary caps in the game.
SILVER: Right.
SORKIN: But you have -- you have wanted to create more parity.
SILVER: Exactly.
SORKIN: But in the -- but in doing that, it may make it harder for certain teams to keep players together. And there are fans out there that do love their teams, not just the name of the team, but the players on the team together. And what do you think of that?
SILVER: Well, my reaction is, first of all, every team, regardless of the cap system or not they have in place, has to operate with a budget. And so every basketball person or football person or hockey person is -- there's never such thing as a pure basketball or pure sport decision. They have to manage a roster. And so they have to manage payroll. And so whether you call it the second apron or -- again, so that's the case in and any sport. But, beyond that, I think the way you have to look at it is on behalf of 30 teams, not on behalf of one team. And to the extent that one team makes a decision not to sign or resign a certain player, by definition, if that's a top player in the league or a team a player that's capable of making an NBA roster, they will then play for another city. So you try to find the right balance. You wouldn't want teams to be arbitrarily broken up all the time. I think just take another sport. In the NFL, everyone just accepts it's a hard cap. And the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, and then they have to make certain player movements. And I think, in a way, it becomes part of the game and even the gamification of sports. People recognize that part of the tactical and strategic decisions teams have to make is roster management. And I -- and, as I said so, it doesn't -- like, in any individual case, if you're a fan of that team and a team is moving a player for financial decisions -- and I think, frankly, it's less than people might think, especially where you have -- in our sport, you have a cap. Then you have the first apron, second apron, so it becomes a high level. But the fact that you have roughly sort of equal number of chips, call it, from team to team—
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: I think that's healthy. You want teams to compete as much on management. I actually think fans like that. They -- we went -- real quickly, you mentioned that player before. We went through an era of so-called super teams, right, where we didn't have the same system, where teams -- players could choose to come together. And, yes, the team that -- and the fans that won that championship loved it, but I can tell you, from anecdotally and all our fan research, fans didn't that.
SORKIN: You're about to expand the NBA.
SILVER: Possibly.
SORKIN: We will talk about Europe in a second, because that is -- that has definitely happened, I think.
SILVER: I hope, yes.
SORKIN: But Vegas, Seattle, how do you think about that? How do you think about the competition? By the way, how do you think about the potential owners? We have heard about potentially Bob Iger, who used to run Disney, and Josh Kushner teaming up. There's all sorts of names bopping around.
SILVER: So I won't comment on individual names, only because the process is under way. There's a New York bank that's s soliciting bids for both Las Vegas and Seattle, and so we will see where that plays out. I mean, I think sometimes what may be lost on people outside of the league is that, if you're expanding, you're selling equity in the league. So, if you have -- we have 30 teams now. You add two. So if you're a member club in this association, you go from owning 1/30th to 1/32nd of it.
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: So it's not printing money the way people might think, because, again, it's a complex analysis. I mean, you're a business reporter. You're making projections in the future. You're trying to say, all right, what -- at what rate is this league going to grow? So, therefore, you're making a prediction in perpetuity. And, in a way, think of it this way. If the Knicks were selling 10 percent of their team, how would you value that? It's not that different than expansion. You also have player dilution. So, that's a -- if every team were -- had the same amount of good luck and bad luck and talent were distributed equally, this is overly simplified, but every team would win once every 30 years. So it's really hard to win a championship in this league. The Knicks, it took them 53 years. So then, in terms of dilution of talent, one is you want a certain quality of play on the floor, but also owners want to win.
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: And so you're reducing their chances of winning by adding teams as well. So you're ready to jump in.
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: But I would just say, so those are some of the factors we look at. Just lastly, I think Seattle, we had an incredibly successful Sonics team there for years. It's an amazing market. We do a lot of business with Amazon and Microsoft. It's probably the A.I. capital of the world right now. And then Vegas, where I just came from through our summer league, I mean, it seems as if there's an insatiable appetite for sports entertainment there.
SORKIN: How much does it matter who the owners are? When you think about -- by the way, people speculate about whether LeBron could join one of these groups at some point. Somebody backstage was talking about whether President Obama would want to be part of one of these owners groups. How much does not just the money of whatever they're going to bid, but who they are and what their expertise is or brings to it?
SILVER: It matters a lot. I would say, in this situation, of course, price matters, in part because of what I just talked about, and it's why, at the end of the day, we haven't made an ultimate decision to expand yet. Part of it is, is it accretive overall to the league? And then the next issue is, who are the partners?
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: And, in this case, as a league, typically, you're not picking your partner. Team is sold, yes, that owner has to be vetted by the league, but we're not making that decision. In this case, I mean, the way we're looking at it, yes, price matters, but it's not one of those auctions where here's a contract, we have just left blank the price and fill it in.
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: I think what the groups present to the league in terms of -- take, for example, in Vegas. It's public. Some groups are talking about building a new arena. What would that new arena be? Where would it be located? What would the attributes of it be? Seattle, the same. There is a Climate Pledge Arena, which was -- it's state of the art, so they have a great building there. There may be groups that have other ideas for where they should play. And then you're right. I think, for the owners in the league, I think one of the things about the NBA, the teams, the owners want to crush each other on the floor, but they really are partners. It's one product that we're presenting to the world as the NBA. So they care a lot about who their partners are. And to the extent partners come in, and some of the names you mentioned who really can broaden the league, bring in new audiences—
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: Or and, even now, you know a lot of who our owners are. They're on your show all the time. I mean, they have expertise across the board, and we have real active committees. It's a little bit of the secret sauce of the league. Like, when we're doing -- Zach just stepped off stage. His dad, Ted, is chairman of our media committee. He has media expertise. We have technological expertise in our league. And so when we're trying to plan the future, talking about things like Europe, when you mentioned, we're really leaning on these owners as board members to provide strategic guidance to the league.
SORKIN: Talking about expansion, one of the things you did do, and you did a long time ago now, was you expanded and created the WNBA. And I need to ask you a question that I think is on a bunch of fans' minds about WNBA and in particular this Caitlin Clark situation, because there's a report that suggests that it was actually you who actually went to Cathy—
SILVER: Wasn't Cathy just on stage?
SORKIN: Cathy was just on stage. And the report says that, effectively, the WNBA was not necessarily going to penalize Thomas, but that you stepped in and said that it had to happen.
SILVER: Let me give you a serious answer to that question. I think that ultimately the issues around Caitlin Clark. Are not largely about officiating, and that particular incident is not about whether a foul should have been called at the time in the game or whether that was ultimately a flagrant on review. And I have come to know Caitlin really well. She's an incredible player and also an incredible person. And she wants to focus on being the best player she can. And she's become a bit of a political football in this country, and I think it's incredibly unfair to her. I don't think that issue is ultimately about officiating. It's sort of -- it's become political ping-pong with her. And she's a young woman who's trying to improve her game—
SORKIN: Right.
SILVER: Focus on being the best player as she can. And I don't even think it's fair to her that this has become a separate storyline about one foul should have been called at a time or should have been called a flagrant after the fact. And that's my response, that it's fair, people are allowed to think whatever they can, whatever they want about our league, but this -- so much -- there's so much to celebrate about in the WNBA. I was part of the group that wrote the original business plan 30 years ago. And where women's sports has come, we missed our numbers for many years in the WNBA, but then it turned a corner. You're now seeing off-the-chart valuations of WNBA teams. Joe and Clara Tsai have done an incredible job here in New York with the Liberty. Caitlin came along, brought an entirely new audience -- and it began while she was still in college -- to the game., young girls, women, men, across the board, people who never had been paying attention to women's basketball. And then it became a rising tide. She -- because, as we quickly all saw it, it wasn't just Caitlin. There's enormous talent in this league. But as I said, this -- yes, like, do we need to improve WNBA officiating? No doubt about it. But my day of job is getting complaints about NBA officiating. So, we have lots to work on.
SORKIN: But fair to say you stepped in?
SILVER: I'm not going to comment on that all -- because I don't think it's fair to Caitlin, and to Cathy Engelbert either. I think that that's not the real issue here. I think what people are trying to make a larger issue about -- around that, not as to whether that was a flagrant foul or not. Obviously, the league decided after the fact that not only should -- a foul should have been called, but it was a flagrant foul. But I just think that here, like, so, yes, we need to improve WNBA officiating, and there's lots to work -- work to do on NBA officiating as well. But I really think this is an opportunity to support Caitlin and say, like, let her be the best basketball player she can be.
SORKIN: OK, another question on behalf of the fans. What do we do about the tanking piece?
SILVER: Well, on behalf of fans -- and we entirely changed the lottery going into next season.
SORKIN: Do you think it's going to -- do you think it's going to have the intended effect?
SILVER: Oh. Well, look, one thing I have learned, best laid plans. Sometimes, it's hard to predict how teams will respond to various systems. I would say, at least on paper, we have entirely eliminated the incentive to tank, just to say it directly, so much so that, even to steal a concept from global soccer, I mean, it's not real relegation because you can get relegated out of the league. But your chances -- if you have a bottom three record in the league, your chances of getting the top pick actually go down. And so we have dramatically flattened the odds. And to the extent we have -- and we have also increased the -- my authority to sanction teams that do screw around. And so I think you're -- we're about to enter into a world in the NBA that in the 80 years of its existence you have never seen, where every team is incentivized to win every game. And I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I think you saw maybe a little bit of a perfect storm last season, a perceived really deep draft, and very sophisticated teams, modern analytics, and a little bit of the guardrails coming off, because, as some of our owners made the point to me, that we don't want to tank, but the local media and the fans are saying, what are you guys doing? Like, it makes no sense to be mediocre. If you don't have a legitimate shot to compete for a championship, you might as well intentionally be bad. And so, not surprisingly, sophisticated teams with sophisticated analytics were following the incentives. And the incentives were to be bad. And so we completely overhauled the system, frankly, in record time, because we heard from our fans. So we also said it was a three-year plan, because, as I said, it's sometimes hard to predict how teams and players will react to certain -- to a system. But it seems, across the board, even the teams that felt compelled to do it have said to me privately, thank God we no longer have that incentive, we don't have to deal with it. Everybody can have a clear direction. We're just going out and trying to win every game.
SORKIN: We're into O.T., by the way. We're a little over time. So I just have two more -- two more questions for you. One is just about the media landscape. You had a huge year. All the biggie -- all the net -- the big networks that have done deals with you. It has been great. The RSNs, the regional sports networks, it's about to get challenged, if it isn't challenged already. And I'm curious how you're thinking about that right now.
SILVER: So, locally -- and you know the business as well as anyone, it's not just the RSNs. All the local stations are doing poorly as well. They're really being held together by your business, by local news and sports. And audiences are rapidly shifting to streaming services. I mean, the number one platform that people view program on -- programming now in the United States is actually YouTube. And believe it or not, the lines crossed last year. It's not even YouTube on their phones. It's YouTube on their televisions. And Netflix is getting as much share as any network now. So, not surprisingly, as you saw in our last round of deals, and for all the leagues, a lot of the premium live program is going to streaming services. So it only seems -- would seem to follow that, in the same way, and maybe for a while -- and I remember watching some of those same heads of streaming companies being interviewed on your show, where they'd say, live sports aren't for us, we're not renters, it doesn't -- like -- but Larry Tisch was saying that in the '90s about why he didn't want to sign the NFL when he bought CBS. I think what they all come to realize is, there is, frankly, nothing else like there -- nothing else out there like live premium sports. And when -- for a sport like the NBA, the engagement, as you might imagine -- this may seem instinctive to people that -- or intuitive -- that a Knicks fan in New York's engagement is going to be far greater than people watching the Knicks outside of New York. In fact, if you measure it in terms of minutes of people watching a live game, a New York fan watching their game in town -- and this is true in just virtually every market -- will watch almost twice as long, twice as many minutes out of the 2.5-hour game than they will for somebody else's game. So the streaming services are paying a lot of attention to that. I heard Jimmy Pitaro was here earlier. He said ESPN wants to take a hard look at local games as well. So, my sense is, that's where it's going. I would love it to be in combination with local broadcast as well, because local broadcast still has that reach that some of the streaming services don't have, although that's changing too. But I feel really confident about it long term, because there's just so much value in premium sports.
SORKIN: Final question. One of your mentors, of course, was David Stern, who you succeeded. And, as you know, the very first interview I ever did in my career when I was 15 years old was with David Stern. So my question to you is, what would David Stern think now?
SILVER: I think honestly -- and people don't know I worked for David for 21 years. And I think about him a lot. One, he was an incredible mentor to me and a great friend. I wouldn't be sitting here today without him. He was always so frustrated in the old days that the banks didn't take the league seriously. He would say, if you go to Goldman Sachs, they have a desk that covers retail, a desk that covers automotives and a desk that covers commodities. He's like, why don't they have a desk that covers sports? Every one of those major banks now has a desk that covers sports, and we're literally considered an asset class now, and probably a trillion-dollar asset class. And, by the way, I think David Stern deserves credit for inventing that asset class, so I think he'd be incredibly proud.
SORKIN: Adam Silver, everybody. Thank you. Thank you for a great conversation.
SORKIN: Really, really appreciate it. Thank you.
SILVER: Thank you very much.
For more information contact:
Erin Kitzie
CNBC
