The 2025 NBA Finals tip off Thursday night, and if you’re one of those fans side-eyeing the matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers like it’s the appetizer instead of the main course, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wants a word.
According to Fox Sports, on Wednesday’s episode of Breakfast Ball, Silver tackled all the spicy storylines buzzing through the basketball world, starting with the elephant in the room: yes, it’s a Finals featuring two mid-market teams, and no, that’s not a bad thing.
“At the end of the day, we are a league of relatively small markets,” Silver said. “The goal is to have a league where every team is in a position to compete. It’s been intentional… to create a system, a collective bargaining agreement, that allows more teams to compete.” Translation? Get used to seeing more Thunder vs. Pacers-type matchups deep in June.
Adam Silver Speaks on the NBA’s Current Finals Match-up
This is OKC’s first Finals appearance since the days of KD, Russ, and Beard back in 2012, and the Pacers are back on the biggest stage for the first time since 2000. And while the ratings might not sizzle like a Lakers-Celtics series, Silver’s hoping the focus will shift to the quality of the hoops, not the zip code of the arenas.
“If I asked somebody if they were going to watch the Super Bowl, they wouldn’t say ‘who’s playing?’ It’s a national holiday. That’s nirvana,” Silver said. “My job is to get people to love and follow this game, so that if you’re a huge basketball fan, you should want to tune in to the Finals because that’s the best basketball.”
Silver States The Draft Lottery Was Not Rigged
As if the Finals talk wasn’t enough, the NBA Draft Lottery delivered a full-on plot twist. The Dallas Mavericks, who had just a 1.8% chance of landing the top pick, won the lottery mere months after trading Luka Dončić to the Lakers. Cue the conspiracy theorists, but Silver isn’t buying the “rigged” narrative.
“The worst-performing team had a 14 percent chance of winning, which means there was an 86 percent chance they wouldn’t get it,” Silver said. Dallas had roughly a two percent chance, and odds are odds. That’s just how it turned out.
Despite the noise, the Mavericks are now expected to take Duke sensation Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick, a potential game-changer for a team that’s clearly already rebuilding post-Dončić. Meanwhile, Utah and Washington, two teams that embraced the tank, slid to the fifth and sixth picks, respectively. Exactly the kind of outcome the NBA was hoping for when it revamped the lottery to discourage bottoming out.
NBA Commissioner Floats Ideas for a Possible Revamped All-Star Game
Then there’s the All-Star Game, a tradition the league has desperately tried to spice up in recent years. The latest experiment? A four-team showdown that included NBA stars, rising rookies, and international players. Silver called the “4-Nations Face-off” a “huge success” and hinted it could shape future events. In that February clash, Canada shocked the U.S. in an overtime thriller, showing just how deep and global the game has become.
“I think there are things that Europe is doing better than we are in terms of training,” Silver admitted. “It’s not for a lack of work ethic… [but] the NBA needs to get more involved… because there’s nothing more important to us than making sure that those elite players grow up to be team basketball players.
With names like Jokic, Giannis, and Wembanyama now defining the league, Silver made it clear: international basketball is booming, and the NBA wants to nurture, not compete with, that growth. Adam Silver’s message was loud and clear: Whether it’s OKC vs. Indy in June, Dallas jumping the odds in May, or Team Canada cooking Team USA in February, the NBA is evolving, and fans better buckle up for the ride.
Emma Taylor 
