And he’s the most untouchable employee in the company. 

He’s not really an employee though. He’s currently contemplating accepting a job offer lol

Not at the moment as he’s a FA with no contract.

he’s not even an employee, he’s a contractor

Silver could have easily said something like “we’re waiting for the majority of the free agents signings to settle before we finalize the schedule” or something. It would still be obvious that he’s talking about LeBron but it would give that plausible deniability.

Yeah from a PR prospective it makes the commissioner look really bad, Silvers an odd guy so it lines up. But I can’t imagine another commissioner actually saying this out loud even if it is true lol

I don’t think it’s a big deal. It’s just confirming what people already suspected was the case, which is that the NBA schedules the games in a way that optimizes revenue without sacrificing too much competitive integrity. That’s just a good business decision.

I don’t think Silver meant to put pressure on LeBron. I think he was just sharing the sentiment of “it’d be nice if LeBron signed with a team soon so we can get the schedule out earlier since a lot of people are asking us to release the schedule ASAP”.

Do y’all want people lie or be honest? What’s the issue? They are waiting for LeBron to set the schedule that maximizes revenue and viewership. Why should they lie about it. If anything we would all want more transparency and honesty.

that has nothing to do with scheduling though,

thats fully on silver, he’s not even supposed to be biased LOL

No one said otherwise

That’s right. He wants to milk this for all the attention he can. It’s his last chance to do so.

For sure but that’s the league’s problem. They are free to plan around him if they want to, nobody’s forcing them to extract every Neilsen rating they can because he’s Lebron.

Not his fault or problem. This is his last hurrah, I don’t blame him for weighing his options.

I agree with the OP but you are also right. LeBron would absolutely put out passive aggressive statements/leaks if he isn’t playing on Christmas or other marquee time slots.

Correct. They are trying to delay the schedule so they can put whatever team he signs with in more nationally televised games

It’s interesting that you mentioned how much Lebron has made in his career and didn’t mention how much he’s made the league and teams he’s played for lol.

Not when that player is the best player the league has had this century and this could be his farewell tour.

Every league does it. Case in point: before 2020, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hadn’t played more than two primetime games in 20 years. From 2020-2022 they played 4, 5, and 5.

Not just any player though. If the league was waiting for Ja Morant it would be absurd.

Yeah his salary is directly tied to how the league makes money. Idk why it’s so hard for people to get that 

They even changed the times of games for Tatum’s return

Just schedule Cavs, Heat, Warriors and Sixers all on Xmas and see what happens.

So don’t schedule the opener or Xmas day around LeBron…

And those are the only ones they really care about

So schedule the Cavs, Warriors, Heat and Sixers for Christmas.

Then schedule Pistons/Cavs, Celtics/Sixers and Warriors/Lakers for Christmas…those would all be good games whether LeBron is involved or not. He’s not going to some bullshit team, anywhere he goes would have a valid Christmas matchup so just schedule that anyways.

Do we really need LeBron to play every Christmas tho?

If they ability to present a desirable game is based on whether or not LeBron is there, the league’s going to be doomed in a couple of years.

My will be done.

Email rich Paul. This would be amazing

Nosferatu gm genotype

LeBron to the mavs cus fuck you Silver

Well hello Memphis!

This is all part of LeBron playing the long con and going to the Grizzlies.

LeBron James, you are a Memphis Grizzly

Well that would be fucking stupid, because Christmas is their highest rated day of the year.

True king behavior right there.

I respect that kind of petty

When he came into the league as commissioner, he immediately got a massive easy W with the Sterling mess. To Silver’s credit, he handled the situation well and said the right things. He oversaw the removal of one of the worst, most universally reviled owners in NBA history.

Then he had to do the daily commissioner work, and people quickly realized he’s just another slimy, maximize profit, shill for the owners commissioner.

He wants to make sure he can see Bronny play in LA for the holidays, what an amazing father

Guy just wants to take a holiday off, never been more relatable.

Stop trying to coin streets ahead.

I thought maybe the team with the least back-to-backs.

How is the nba ruined?

NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed, so they still have total control over the product and the players. Missing a game check in the NFL is fucking huge since it’s ¹⁄₁₇ of their total salary for the year. Piss off your owner, or GM, or head coach and they can just not suit you up for as long as they want until you do what they want.

The NBA will never have that kind of power and the NBA players know it.

They give these players so much power over the product that it has ruined it.

the players are the product, why shouldn’t they have a significant amount of control?

WC already over though

LeDeliberation

The real hardest road.