Free Republic

As the NBA scene grows more uncivil — last week, Warriors star and repetitive reprobate Draymond Green put on a vulgar public show following his assault of a teammate — commissioner Adam Silver continues to whistle past the dump. Silver seems unwilling to firmly or even tangentially deal with what’s increasingly plaguing the NBA. Brings to mind Silver’s mentor, the late NBA commissioner David Stern, who, during an interview with NBC’s Bob Costas, scoffed at the notion that taunting and trash-talking inspire too many on-court fights. The next season, the NBA added anti-taunting rules to reduce the number of on-court...

Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, banned for a year and fined $10 million by the NBA for racist and misogynist remarks and workplace bullying, said Wednesday he will sell the team. Following the punishments imposed last week, NBA players union executive director Tamika Tremaglio called for Sarver to be banned for life, and NBA stars LeBron James and Chris Paul declared the penalties too light. Major sponsor PayPal said it would not renew its deal with the team if Sarver were still involved, and Suns vice chairman Jahm Najafi called for Sarver to resign. “In our current unforgiving climate, it...

NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters this week that China’s response to former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressing his support for anti-government Hong Kong protesters in 2019 cost the league hundreds of millions of dollars. Morey, who is now general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, tweeted in October 2019 an image that read, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” Morey would later delete the tweet and explain that he did not intend to offend Rockets fans or his friends in China. Demonstrators were protesting against China’s control of Hong Kong at the time. China first pulled games...

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ripped the National Basketball Association (NBA) Tuesday after fining the Brooklyn Nets $50,000 for allowing an unvaccinated Kyrie Irving to step inside the locker room. “One final example for just how asinine this is: the NBA just fined Kyrie Irving $50,000 because [of] their rules, the rules of New York City,” Cruz said. “Here’s how idiotic it is: Kyrie Irving could go to a game, could sit in the stands not being vaccinated, which he did. That was perfectly okay. But if he actually plays, that’s not permissible.” “Because apparently in addition to Diet Coke...

Bob Costas once said that the NBA’s social justice messaging was alienating its fans, and Bob Costas is a very smart man. Ratings numbers for the NBA’s Western Conference Finals are coming in and though they’re way up from last year’s pandemic-plagued season, they are way down from 2019.

The NBA and its players profit from China and its inhumane treatment of its citizens. Thus, when asked about China’s genocide and slave labor, members of the NBA often fold like pathetic stooges. NBA commissioner Adam Silver, promoted as the most vocal commissioner in sports, has followed his players’ lead and refused to acknowledge how hypocritical and dishonest the NBA’s relationship with China is.

Maybe the NBA commissioner got "woked" between the eyes Maybe the advertisers are texting NBA commissioner Adam Silver about the lousy ratings. Or maybe Mr. Silver finds Lebron James as obnoxious as the rest of us. One way or another, the "social justice" won't be back next season, according to Mr. Silver: We’re completely committed to standing for social justice and racial equality and that’s been the case going back decades. It’s part of the DNA of this league. How it gets manifested is something we’re gonna have to sit down with the players and discuss for next season. I...

Adam Silver sat down for an interview with Rachel Nichols on NBA Countdown earlier this week, and indicated that the social justice messaging that you see on the courts and the backs of players’ jerseys will be “largely left off the floor” next season: Here is the relevant question and answer: Rachel Nichols: The NBA has certainly been the most visible billion-dollar organization championing social justice and civil rights. As you noted in your press conference the other day, though, that has not been universally popular. How committed are you to being that going forward? Adam Silver: We’re completely committed...

Adam Silver sat down for an interview with Rachel Nichols on NBA Countdown earlier this week, and indicated that the social justice messaging that you see on the courts and the backs of players’ jerseys will be “left off the floor” next season. Rachel Nichols: The NBA has certainly been the most visible billion-dollar organization championing social justice and civil rights. As you noted in your press conference the other day, though, that has not been universally popular. How committed are you to being that going forward? Adam Silver: We’re completely committed to standing for social justice and racial equality and that’s...

The NBA took another L Friday. Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Heat utterly collapsed with just 4.5 million viewers. The embarrassing average is down — wait for it — 68% from last year’s Game 2, which featured a team in Canada. How bad is the number? It’s the least-watched NBA Finals game on record. Dropping even below Game 1’s 7.41, the lowest-viewed Finals opener in history. There is no way for the media to spin this positively. Declines of this magnitude are unheard of. Then, factor in the tank-job occurring with the league’s biggest individual...

A trend of low ratings throughout the NBA postseason has now reached the NBA Finals. And hit it hard. Game 1 of the Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat brought in only 7.41 million viewers to ABC, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That is reportedly the lowest viewership seen for the Finals since at least 1994, when total viewers began to be regularly recorded. The number is down 45 percent from last year’s Game 1

This week's Thursday night episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News pulled in more viewers than the highly anticipated Game 4 NBA match between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets. That game drew 4.6 million viewers, while Carlson's show brought in 140,000 more than that. The comparatively low numbers continue a trend of plummeting viewership in the NBA, the numbers of which are down roughly 40% since the 2018 season and 27% from last year. Some commentators have blamed that drop on the League's increasing politicization, particularly beginning in mid-2020 as more and more players began coming...

Television ratings for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals continued a trend downward for the NBA this season, with the Miami Heat's win over the Boston Celtics averaging just 3.48 million viewers. As noted by Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, that was a 21 percent drop from last season's East finals Game 2 between the Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks -- and the least-watched East finals Game 2 since 2003. [cut] "This continues a troubling trend for NBA playoff viewership, and the sports-starved audience that the league believed would be there when they returned from the pandemic has...

Despite near-daily efforts to show America how woke they are, or, because of it, the NBA’s playoff ratings are still tanking. “Weekday afternoon games have certainly hurt, but the first weekend of the NBA Playoffs was no ratings bonanza either,” Sports Media Watch reported. Viewership on ABC is down 23 percent and the numbers are down 20 percent overall compared to last year’s playoffs “The Lakers’ win ranks as ABC’s least-watched playoff opener in five years (2015 Pelicans-Warriors: 3.49M), with the caveat that this year marked the first time since 2004 that it did not air a game on the...

This train wreck of an NBA season proves revealing in a number of ways. It decimates the illusion that big business is in any way an anchor of moderation and nonpartisanship in American life, as opposed to just another compromised institution—along with the media, universities, and the public school system—used by the Left to bludgeon deplorables out of wrongthink and cudgel undesirables into adopting newspeak. For example: has Commissioner Adam Silver, or anyone in the league, for that matter, read the all-revealing “what we believe” section on blacklivesmatter.com? Do they understand whom they’re assisting? Is championing an organization that openly...

The ball is in your court, NBA? Are all racial slurs unacceptable? Or is this a one way street?

Mark Cuban says critics of the NBA’s Black Lives Matter activism should focus on Fox News’ ratings before the league. The Dallas Mavericks owner says a 4% dip in ratings for the league has far more to do with Joseph R. Biden’s presidential campaign than politicized programming alienating fans. “Lol. You do realize that was the day @JoeBiden picked @KamalaHarris?” the billionaire tweeted at Fox Sports Radio’s Clay Travis on Thursday. “Nothing makes a Fox News viewer want to get lied to more.” Cuban’s comments failed to take into account strong ratings for baseball and hockey despite the coronavirus pandemic....

Baptist posted a meme that included Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s official 2020 campaign logo. But instead of “Joe 2020” in the blue circle, it reads “Jo and the Ho.” He shared the photo on Facebook without comment.

Sports journalist Jason Whitlock wrote Tuesday that the early narrative surrounding the death of George Floyd amounted to a "race hoax" after leaked body camera footage of the incident that led to Floyd's death May 25 was made public. "The George Floyd case is not a race crime," Whitlock, who is Black, wrote on OutKick.com. "No rational person can watch that footage and conclude the police were motivated by Floyd’s Black race." The footage shows four Minneapolis police officers struggling with Floyd before one of them, Derek Chauvin, ultimately pins Floyd to the ground in a scene that was broadcast...

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has made the maximum personal donation allowable to Joe Biden’s campaign for president, according to Federal Election Commission records. The donation appears on the FEC’s website of itemized receipts for donations to the Biden for President committee, OutKick the Coverage reported. Biden has repeatedly come to China’s side during this latest run for the White House. Biden slammed the president for calling the coronavirus the “Chinese virus,” and recently said that Trump is “racist” for using the term.