Adam Silver

Adam Silver
5th Commissioner of the NBA
Assumed office
February 1, 2014
Deputy Mark Tatum
Preceded by David Stern
Deputy Commissioner of the NBA
In office
July 2006 – February 1, 2014
Commissioner David Stern
Succeeded by Mark Tatum
Personal details
Born (1962-04-25) April 25, 1962
Rye, New York, U.S.
Nationality American
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Maggie (m. 2015)
Alma mater Duke University (BA)
University of Chicago (JD)
Occupation Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA)

Adam Silver (born April 25, 1962) is an American lawyer and businessman, who is currently the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Early life

Silver was born into a Jewish-American family[1][2] north of New York City in the suburb of Rye in Westchester County. At an early age, Silver was a New York Knicks fan.[3]

He graduated from Rye High School,[4] and then from Duke University in 1984. He worked as a legislative aide for U.S. Congressman Les AuCoin from 1984 to 1985.[5] He earned a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1988.[6]

Before joining the NBA, he served as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a law firm in New York. Silver also worked as a law clerk to Judge Kimba Wood, a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.[7]

NBA career

Prior to becoming commissioner, Silver served as NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer for eight years. In that role, he was instrumental to many of the league's signature achievements, including the negotiation of the league's last three collective bargaining agreements with the National Basketball Players Association, the development of the WNBA and NBA Development League, the partnership with Turner Broadcasting to manage the NBA's digital assets, and the creation of NBA China.

Before serving as the league's second-in-command, Silver spent more than eight years as President and COO, NBA Entertainment. Since joining the NBA in 1992, Silver has also held the positions of Senior VP & COO, NBA Entertainment, NBA Chief of Staff, and Special Assistant to the Commissioner.[8]

During his time with NBA Entertainment, Silver was an executive producer of the IMAX movie Michael Jordan to the Max, as well as the documentary Whatever Happened to Micheal Ray? He also worked on the production side of Like Mike and Year of the Yao.

Commissioner

On October 25, 2012, he was endorsed by David Stern to be the next NBA Commissioner when Stern announced that he would step down on February 1, 2014.[9][10][11]

On April 25, 2014, Silver witnessed a dramatic controversial moment, where Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was cited for making racist remarks, during a private conversation with Sterling's girlfriend. TMZ Sports released a video of Sterling holding a conversation with his girlfriend about his racist remarks, which was made public. Silver responded on April 29, 2014, as he announced that Sterling had been banned from the NBA for life due to his racist remarks. In addition, Silver fined Sterling $2.5 million, the maximum allowed under the NBA Constitution. Furthermore, Silver stripped Sterling from virtually all of his authority over the Clippers, and urged owners to vote to expel Sterling from ownership of the Clippers. Moreover, Sterling was disallowed from entering any Clippers facility as well as attending any NBA games. It was one of the most severe punishments a commissioner ever imposed on a professional sports owner.[12]

On November 13, 2014, Silver published an op-ed piece in The New York Times, where he announced that he is in favor of legalized and regulated sports betting, mentioning that it "should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated".[13]

Honors

In 2016, Sports Business Journal ranked Silver No. 1 on its list of the 50 Most Influential People in Sports Business. In 2015, Silver was named Executive of the Year by Sports Business Journal.[14] That year he was also named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People[15] and one of Fortune's 50 Greatest Leaders.[16]

In 2014, he was named the Sports Illustrated Executive of the Year.[17]

Other

Silver serves on Duke University's Board of Trustees and received the 2016 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Chicago Law School.[18] He also serves on the board of the Lustgarten Pancreatic Cancer Foundation.[19]

Personal

Silver has been married to his wife, Maggie, since 2015.[20] They have one daughter.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Jerusalem Post: "Who was the most influential Jew in sports this past year?" By Uriel Sturm August 9, 2016
  2. ↑ "Jewish groups slam racist rant attributed to Donald Sterling". Jewish Journal. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  3. ↑ Abbott, Henry (October 25, 2012). "Adam Silver: The NBA's next commissioner". ESPN. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Silver mettle". www.sportsbusinessdaily.com. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  5. ↑ Lofton, John Lombardo; Terry Lefton (October 21, 2013). "Silver mettle". SportsBusiness Daily. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Duke alum Adam Silver named next NBA commissioner". DukeChronicle.com. October 26, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  7. ↑ Soshnick, Scott. "Silver Taking Over NBA With Stern Completing Turnaround". Businessweek. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Profile from". NBA.com. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Stern to step aside in 2014; Silver to replace him". National Basketball Association. October 25, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  10. ↑ Berger, Ken (February 25, 2012). "Stern anoints Silver as successor". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  11. ↑ Windhorst, Brian (October 25, 2012). "David Stern has date for retirement". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Clippers owner Sterling banned for life by the NBA". National Basketball Association. April 29, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  13. ↑ Adam Silver (November 13, 2014). "N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver: Allow Gambling on Pro Games". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  14. ↑ "SBJ 2015 Executive of the Year". SBJ.
  15. ↑ "Time 100 Most Influential - Adam Silver". Time Magazine.
  16. ↑ "Fortune 50 Greatest Leaders- Adam Silver". Fortune Magazine.
  17. ↑ Jenkins, Lee (December 11, 2014). "SI Executive of the Year- Adam Silver". Sports Illustrated.
  18. ↑ "Apple CEO Cook, NBA commissioner Silver among 8 new trustees". dukechronicle.com. June 7, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  19. ↑ Ramkumar, Amrith. "Lustgarten Foundation leadership". Lustgarten Foundation.
  20. ↑ "NBA commissioner Adam Silver: I'm getting married - TODAY.com". TODAY. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  21. ↑ @MagicJohnson (April 20, 2017). "Congratulations to Commissioner Adam Silver and his wife Maggie on the birth of their daughter Louise Burns Silver!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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