“This is very much a highlights-based sport.” How to open a can of worms 101 by Adam Silver. Where NBA players are criticizing the media for disparaging the product, the league’s own commissioner blew it up by basically minimizing the basketball and the NBA. Players like Danny Green felt sorry for fans, analysts Rachel Nichols and Damien Barling were critical of Silver’s media strategy, and former Mavs owner Mark Cuban had to plead on behalf of Silver’s case. At such times, the success of the NCAA and Ice Cube’s league ironically fan the flames.
Jordan Crawford was one of those players who didn’t have the most glamorous careers in the league. He bounced between NBA teams, the G-League and overseas. Then Ice Cube signed him to the BIG3, where he played for the 3 Headed Monsters initially, immediately becoming a superstar of the league. Teaming up with Dwight Howard on the LA Riot didn’t take away that he was one of the top scorers in the entire format.
Crawford and the TFU crew discussed how NBA is no longer an aspirational goal for college athletes who make eight figures in the NIL and earn more regional stardom than a rookie scale contract can guarantee. The 36-year-old very bleakly says, “That’s where the world is at.”
Most mid-tier draft prospects aren’t immediately transitioning to the NBA because more opportunities are at their disposal to increase their draft stock. Even Crawford says, “Everything is changing because you don’t need to pursue the NBA. You can just pursue being a college athlete and then from there you might learn to… you might want to do something with the money you make.”
Ice Cube has a different game to Adam Silver. He caters to fans by investing in NBA nostalgia, i.e., bringing retired players back on the court. With a fast-paced format, strategically designed matchups for entertainment (like starting off the season with Dwight Howard vs Michael Beasley), and very creative rules and storylines, the BIG3 became a basketball success story.
So Crawford had all the bravado to say, “That’s why the BIG3 is thriving because everything is changing, nothing lasts forever.” And he very ominously tells his former league, “The NBA got to find out how to keep that drive going for people to want to get in there ’cause I mean the NCAA is just like the NBA.”
The NCAA has historic rivalries and underdog storylines going for it. The WNBA has new storylines with Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers. Even Unrivaled with its unique format is winning. What is not working is Adam Silver basically telling fans they don’t have to watch NBA games. Especially at a time when this narrative can logically be displaced by the right statements and action. The NCAA has benefitted from the influx of money into the NBA, which has made fans care for future prospects as well.
Further, BIG3 may have created its own niche with its evolutionary system of basketball, but it still revolves around the hype create by players best known for their successful NBA careers. The NBA is the reason why basketball as a sport has become truly global, and the rising influx of money has allowed athletes to make their fortunes despite never playing in the big league simply due to the eyeballs the NBA initially garnered for the sport. In such a scenario, Adam Silver’s comments seemingly diminish the league’s importance at a time when the NBA may need more protection.
While there may be a lot of money in leagues such as the BIG3 and NCAA itself, the NBA is still the pinnacle of the sport, both in terms of quality and financials.
Adam Silver missed the mark with fans
Jordan Crawford last played in the NBA in 2018 for the New Orleans Pelicans. He spent the majority of his career overseas. Safe to say he found his overdue stardom when he led the Enemies to the 2023 BIG3 championship. This year he teamed up with Dwight Howard and was coached by Nick Young. While we were waiting for the memes about Howard’s return to come true, Ice Cube really made it happen.
Although the LA Riot missed the cut for the BIG3 championship, he made a fat paycheck per game and enjoyed more stardom than he did in the NBA. Howard, Crawford, Michael Beasley, and Lance Stephenson were only some of the ex NBA stars who were the big draw.
The championship game that saw Miami 305 win the $1 million prize raked in 1.5 million in viewership. The NBA Finals averaged, 10.2 million viewers per game in a 7-game series, the lowest in recent history.
At such time, Adam Silver saying, “There’s a huge amount of our content that people essentially consume for free. This is very much a highlights-based sport, so Instagram, TikTok, Twitter [now X]… YouTube, another example that is advertising based that consumers can consume,” is not a reassuring statement that the league is in a good place despite the low ratings. Fans found it tone deaf and didn’t address their concerns.
Fans pointed out they watch NBA highlights because of the number of streaming subscriptions required to watch the NBA. Danny Green disagreed with Silver’s comments while feeling sorry for fans. Jordan Crawford himself admitted he doesn’t watch the NBA’s media partners anymore. He chooses to go to social media for highlights, once again emphasizing how Silver is not giving fans what they want.
Analysts also doubted Silver’s shift away from regional broadcasters. Rachel Nichols even said, “watching an entire basketball game is what gets people invested in basketball.”
Mark Cuban didn’t like Silver’s comments either, but pleaded for some grace by tweeting, “Adam definitely whiffed on this one. But I can tell you that unless a lot has changed in the last 20 months, he is one of the people standing up for fans in a room where a lot of owners are not.”
Crawford is one of the many players in Ice Cube’s league who believe that the NBA would benefit by adopting the BIG3’s strategies. The music mogul has called out the Disney stepmother treatment by the NBA while his own business model is thriving. Ice Cube’s mantra – giving fans what they want. Wouldn’t hurt for the NBA to try that.