Mark Cuban isn’t letting Adam Silver take all the heat alone. After the NBA Commissioner called basketball a “highlight league” and faced backlash from the community, the former Dallas Mavericks owner acknowledged the comment was a mistake but defended Silver’s track record of standing up for fans behind the scenes.
“Adam definitely whiffed on this one,” wrote Cuban. “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.”
Silver’s remarks at the Board of Governors’ meeting raised eyebrows across the league. In response to the rising prices for watching games, he classified basketball as a “highlight sport” and encouraged fans to consume YouTube and TikTok as a solution for not being able to afford their live broadcast package.
The comments came amid years of declining viewership and growing fan discontent with the availability of games. With the league split between ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, and Prime Video, you need multiple subscriptions to keep up, and it adds up to a costly price.
Not only does the statement show a lack of urgency to address the problem, but it also cheapens the product that Silver is trying so hard to promote. Basketball is so much more than a highlight sport, and many things can get lost when someone only watches through highlights and snippets.
Silver has also been criticized for his changes to All-Star weekend, which have all failed to redeem the event and recover fan interest. The product is decreasing in quality every year, and many hold him at fault for the state it’s in now.
Still, Cuban views Silver as one of the few voices for fans in a space dominated by business interests. While he doesn’t often make public appearances, he’s still in touch with the viewers and does his part to incorporate fan feedback whenever he gets the chance.
It was Silver who added the play-in tournament and in-season tournament to spice up the NBA calendar. It was also Silver who embraced the player empowerment movement by giving the players a voice to express their views while allowing them more freedom to dictate their path. There’s also his reaction to the Donald Sterling and Robert Sarver controversies, which was met with praise and approval from people across the league. On the topic of affordability, Silver played a role in the NBA ‘League Pass’ overhaul, which was designed to help make watching games more affordable for fans.
In the end, while Silver is far from perfect, he does have a track record of success in the past, and he has established a reputation for taking care of his fans. If he’s listening now, he already knows how they feel about the “highlight game” comments, and it should tell him a lot about how the true fans want to consume the game.
There’s no denying that Silver slipped with his “highlight league” remark, but his record shows he’s not blind to fan concerns. From banning Donald Sterling to introducing the play-in format and lowering League Pass prices, Silver has proven he can listen and adapt. This moment should be no different. If the backlash is any indication, fans are demanding a better live viewing experience, not a reminder that they can scroll TikTok.
