When The King beckons you have to answer.
And so, it is widely assumed Miami Heat star LeBron James will soon have the audience with incoming NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. The two-time reigning league MVP let it be known this week he wants to conference with the only man not named David Stern to lord over NBA affairs in the last three decades.
Without going into much detail, James told ESPN he has some “topics” he wants to discuss with Silver, all in the name of refining and fine-tuning the game.
“Hopefully I can sit down with the commish and just throw out some ideas where I hope the league can be better,” James told ESPN. “Hopefully, he has some ideas for me.”
James stressed that he and Silver are hardly strangers, and in recent years the back-to-back NBA champ has even been impressed by the man that now stands to be his boss.
“It’s not a major change, but the game can always be bigger,” said James. “There’s a lot of people who love the game who can’t watch the game, so hopefully we can expand it. The opportunities I’ve had to be around him as he’s been the assistant commish, he’s been easy to talk to. He understands the business and someone who understands what the game means to everyone— the whole pie. Best of luck to him; hopefully he can get 30 years in too.”
While it’s true, what with two work stoppages during his tenure, Stern hasn’t always been the apple of his player’s eyes that all now seems forgiven.
“David has been great,” added James. “Obviously we had a lockout, but at the end of the day the players want more and the owners want more and we all want more. You can’t knock what David has done. He came in the ‘80s and built the game into what it is today. Can you name a commissioner who is better than him and what he’s done? I don’t think so.”
