Silver was also asked about concerns surrounding flopping and officiating, specifically regarding the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. Many believe that Gilgeous-Alexander, who just won his second consecutive regular-season MVP award, has a habit of exaggerating contact for foul calls.

To that, Silver felt it was important to make the distinction between embellishing contact to draw a foul, a genuine part of the game, and actually deceiving the officials.

“Even as I sit in the stands at games, players may be falling down, players may be reacting to a call,” Silver said. “But to me, if they’re not fooling the referees, it’s OK. Players are taught to sell calls these days.”

Silver agreed the league is “always working on that,” in reference to officiating improving, but he doesn’t see it as a pressing issue and called the league’s officiating “incredible.”

He does, however, see a future where, in terms of out-of-bounds calls, the league moves to a system like tennis’ Hawk-Eye system, in which objective calls can be quickly replayed and decided by an automated AI system powered by cameras around the court. So-called objective calls, Silver said, currently handled by referees, will eventually become instantaneous.

Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton appeared on the show after the commissioner. He explained that the art of embellishing contact to draw fouls is taught at the player development level. It stems from a desire by the game’s best scorers to understand methods of generating as many free-throw opportunities as possible.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7313809/2026/05/27/adam-silver-tanking-reform-flopping-roster-building-nba/

29 comments

  4. All major sports are rigged nowadays, can’t convince me otherwise lmao. Big money brings corruption, ALWAYS

  5. This guy is the GOAT of saying crazy shit that takes the heat off everyone else

  6. These games are becoming unwatchable Adam Silver. Fix it or loose your audience. Period.

  7. In other words: “I know there’s a massive problem but I’m going to conveniently ignore it and hope it goes away on its own.”

  8. If there was only a Association of some type to enforce rules not allowing players to do that… Someone should look to do that, while fresh

  10. Tears in my eyes he deadass just watching the games like us 😭😭 BROTHER YOU CAN CHANGE THIS

  12. “I know fans hate this totally unnecessary element of the game, but fuck them lol, more free throws means higher scoring and more ad revenue!”

  14. You’d think he’d be so annoyed by the complaining from fans at this point he would actually be looking for solutions. I guess it must not be affecting the gambling companies enough

  15. Nothing will get better until he’s gone. And he appears to be an immortal vampire.

  17. Silver can actually change that though by changing some of the rules to not favor flopping

    For example if an offensive player leans into a defender for a jumper just make that a no call

  19. “if you get robbed, but the thief doesn’t get caught by police, nothing was actually stolen from you.”

  20. this mf just endorsed flopping and then tyrese came on and confirmed we’re fucked for at least the next 15 years of drafts.

  21. The problem of Adam silver is that at his heart, he’s a lawyer. And he can’t shake that perspective bias. David Stern was capable of doing that.

    In other words, Adam Silver is technically correct. It is part of the game and players are taught to sell calls, but he is not approaching this from a normal fans view.

    Adam, read the fucking room. Shed the cognitive limitations your professional ethos has punished you with and think about how this looks from a regular person’s position. It’s bad for the game in ways you aren’t seeing.

  22. Hes the most spineless commissioner ever. Just passively deny or agree with narratives. Never enforce rules. Busy with youtube influencers and sports gambling.

  23. It’s crazy how all the other main sports will change their game when there are glaring issues, but the NBA won’t do the same.

  25. Remember how strong Silver started and how excited people were? Dude is the worst commissioner in sports and that says a lot when Manfred is there.

  26. They ARE fooling the refs. Why would players keep trying to sell calls if it was never working?

  29. “If they’re not fooling the referees…”

    Truly spoken like a lawyer. They absolutely are fooling the refs and gaining advantages. That’s why they do it, dummy.

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