Despite recent the decision to hold off momentarily on moving the NBA’s 2017 All-Star game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on Thursday the legislature must change the law in order for the league to keep the game in the state.
“We’ve been, I think, crystal clear a change in the law is necessary for us to play in the kind of environment that we think is appropriate for a celebratory NBA event,” Silver told reporters on Thursday.
Silver also told ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” that rather than move the game right away, he would rather push for the state to repeal the law, especially given that the league has a team based in Charlotte, the Hornets.
“I’m only saying that whatever we do, we have to keep an eye on the fact that we have one of our 30 franchises operating in that state. We have a much bigger issue in North Carolina than the All-Star Game: It’s the ongoing operation of our team,” he said. “That’s why what’s most important to this league that there be a change in law. It would be easy to make a statement but I can’t cut-and-run here? I’m leaving my team there.”
Silver said that the league is “working very closely with the business community down there and the governor and the legislature to make it clear that it would be problematic for us to move forward with our All-Star Game if there is not a change in the law.”
“I believe they’re going to do the right thing,” he told ESPN. “And I think they’ve heard loud and clearly from the NBA, they know what’s at stake in terms of the All-Star Game … but I think at least at the moment, constructive engagement on our part is the best way to go as opposed to putting a gun to their head and saying ‘Do this, or else.'”
