NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Zings Shaquille O’Neal For Calling League ‘Boring’

NBA commissioner Adam Silver jokingly coaxed Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal to say the “boring” quality of play in the league is weighing on TV ratings.

“There was so much diversity in Shaqi’s game, I can’t believe he said that,” Silver cracked during an appearance Wednesday at the Paley Center for Media’s International Council Summit.

On a recent episode of The Big Podcast with Shaqthe host said that TV ratings this season are down “because we’re watching the same thing. Everyone’s running the same plays.” Golden State Warriors shooting guard Steph Curry, he added, “and those guys messed it up. I don’t mind Golden State shooting threes back then, but every team isn’t a 3-point shooter. So why does everybody (have) that same strategy? I think it makes the game boring.”

After his jibe about the bruising, low-post style of O’Neal, who stands 7-foot-1 and weighed about 330 pounds in his playing days, Silver became more reflective. “I respect his opinion,” he said. “I think we’re very aware of what we see in our game. … Sometimes there’s more appreciation for a 12-foot jump shot than a 30-foot jump shot. When Shaq played, it was the exact opposite,” with critics complaining, “‘There’s not enough variety in your game – it’s all about dunking.'”

Today, he continued, “people say it’s all about these very skilled shooters. … We’ve moved the 3-point line back a little before to make 3-point shooting more difficult. We could do that again. I’m not saying that is on the table. This is a good opportunity this season as we are entering into three 11-year TV deals. … Our game has never been more popular. that there aren’t things we could do. … There’s something in that, he says. No one would want to see every team play the same offense.”

Warner Bros. Discovery will relinquish rights to the NBA at the end of this season unless the company’s pending lawsuit against the league over the process of negotiating media rights is successful. Aryeh Bourkoff, a prominent media banker and moderator of the Paley session with Silver, did not ask Silver about the WBD case. Not surprisingly, he asked the commissioner about the three mega deals with Disney-ESPN, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video. The three pacts are valued at nearly three times the current deals with Disney and WBD, whose Turner Sports has carried NBA games for nearly four decades.

“We want to make sure the game is accessible,” Silver said, especially given its ongoing global ambitions. Streaming (and here Silver made sure to call out all three of the league’s new partners and not just pure streamer Amazon) also enables “a multitude” of programming options. He said the league plans to encourage alternative broadcasts that are “like Mannigcast on steroids.”