Written by Scooby Axson at SI.com
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the state of the league before Game 1 of the NBA Finals and says the issue with player rest and the age requirement rule to enter the draft will be looked into by the league’s owners.
Silver says the amount of back-to-back games that teams play could be reduced by working with the arenas to better schedule games.
“(We are) requiring our arenas to free up more dates,” Silver said. “We’re competing against everything else that happens in these buildings, so you can only imagine the number of permutations that go into the computer program. But if we can ask them to hold yet additional nights, that also enables us to create more space between the games.”
Silver also says that the 82-game schedule is not the issue and that players resting is not anything new.
On the subject of one-and-done, Silver says the rule will continue to be looked at between the league and the players union.
Currently, any player entering the draft must be at least 19 years old. For players in the United States, they must also be at least one year removed from high school.
“My sense is it’s not working for anyone,” Silver said. “It’s not working certainly from the college coaches and athletic directors I hear from. They’re not happy with the current system. And I know our teams aren’t happy either in part because they don’t necessarily think that the players are coming into the league are getting the kind of training that they would expect to see among top draft picks in the league.”
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