Adam Silver wasn’t particularly thrilled about how the Nets-Sixers trade involving James Harden and Ben Simmons went down, he discussed in a conversation with Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports,
“Players forcing their way out of situations is not new in this league,” Silver said. “I’d love to find a way where to the extent there’s player movement, it didn’t happen in that fashion.”
Silver particularly took issue with how public this whole situation played out.
“I accept that there will always be conversations behind closed doors, when teams are unhappy, or players are unhappy, [but] the last thing you want to see is for these issues to play out publicly,” Silver said. “One of the things that I continue to do in my role is to think about ways we can improve the system.”
At the end of the day, though, Silver understands that these players are human beings as well, as he mentioned he did get to see a little bit of both press conferences.
“I did watch a little bit of James and Ben’s press conferences earlier today,” Silver continued. “And you’re reminded that when you see them sitting up there, on those podiums doing these interviews, these are human beings, who, in both cases, have gone through very stressful situations.”
More NBA Rumors, News & Notes
- Potential Surgery: Zion Williamson may need to get a second surgery on his injured right foot, according to Christian Clark of NOLA.com. Williamson got an injection in that foot back in December to promote healing.
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Missed Opportunity: The Pelicans tried to move up from the fourth spot in the 2019 draft to the second in order to land Ja Morant, but the Grizzlies didn’t budge, Clark relays (same article). The Pelicans eventually decided to trade down in the draft.
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Mitchell-Gobert Dynamic: It has been reported several times that Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have a complicated relationship. However, he seemingly dismissed that in a recent conversation with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “First of all, we’re good. I just want to go on record with saying that,” Mitchell told Haynes. “I think it’s interesting that stuff happens, and he and I have never played at this high of a level together since we’ve been here. So I make the joke, ‘For a group that hates each other, man, we’re playing pretty well.’”
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Injury Update: Paul George could be returning to action in mid-March after missing nearly two months with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, according to Haynes (h/t @TomerAzerly). George will have an MRI on Feb. 24 and if there’re no issues, he’ll go through a two-week ramp up period.
