Adam Silver Acknowledges Knicks Performance But Will Not Intervene: ‘Not My Role’

It’s no secret that the New York Knicks have been performing poorly for quite some time, but NBA commissioner Adam Silver has no interest in stepping in. As the Knicks continue on their path to missing the playoffs for the seventh year in a row, Silver was asked if he would help the team turn things around.

“I wouldn’t, it’s not my role,” he explained, as New York Daily News reports. “Of course, I work for 30 teams. And the 29 other teams want to beat that team. That’s not to say me getting involved (would be good) and that I’m in any better position to know what to do. We set the rules. And then we try to have a level playing field for the teams to compete.”

Additionally, Silver was asked if the NBA had suffered as a result of the Knicks’ bad reputation. “I’m not sure,” he replied. “I would just say it would obviously be great in the country’s largest media market to have a high performing team, one that’s winning more games on the floor. But at the same time, increasingly with every game available through digital media, league pass, apps, national broadcasts–I think the market is less significant than it used to be. All things being equal, sure you’d like to see big city teams be successful. At the end of the day, you want to see teams compete the best they can.”

The Knicks previously had former NBA commissioner David Stern lobby to get rid of Knicks team president Isiah Thomas in favor of Donnie Walsh, but it likely won’t come to that again. Meanwhile, Knicks coach David Fizdale has been very open about the poor performance of his team.

“It’s sickening,” he said of the team’s most recent losses, as USA Today reports. His job status has been in limbo ever since an impromptu press conference was held in November by team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry, who both expressed their interest in seeing progress from the team.