Winning the press conference was one thing.
So there was Adam Silver on Friday afternoon, the NBA commissioner declaring this the dawn of a new day on the tampering front. As he discussed for the media masses after a two-day Board of Governor’s session in New York, this latest summer of free agency had forced the issue front and center in a way we haven’t seen since he took over for David Stern in Feb. 2014.
The harsher team fines had been unanimously approved, from a previous max of $5 million up to $10 million. Silver had plenty of more painful options at his disposal from there, too, punitive tools that had largely gone unused of late: The random audits of teams that are now expected to take place, the possible suspensions of executives, loss of draft picks or even the voiding of player contracts if the offense were so grave.
It’s scary stuff if you’re one of the many guilty parties. Yet all around the league, where so many questions loomed about…
