NBA Commissioner Adam Silver tries to remain as impartial as possible in the conduct of his job, but it’s pretty hard to be the public face of a sport one is not at least a little bit of a fan of.
Silver was asked who his four favorite players were in an interview with New Orleans Pelicans star and occasional media member CJ McCollum.
Operating with his usual concern for decorum, Silver chose to limit his reply to former players, and those he has actually worked with. “So No. 1, Bill Russell, who I (was) fortunate to spend a lot of time with,” the commissioner said.
“No. 2, Michael Jordan, of course, (as) one of the owners in our league,” continued Silver. “No. 3, Magic Johnson, who’s a licensee of the league and currently an owner of the WNBA Sparks.”
“And no. 4, Larry Bird, president of basketball with the Indiana Pacers.”
The league’s head honcho balanced his choices across the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, the three greatest dynasties of his lifetime. Given the current distribution of titles in league history (17 titles each for Boston and LA plus MJ’s GOAT career) and the parameters Silver set for himself in answering the question, that’s about as diplomatic as it can get.
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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire