Silver, NBA unhappy with free agency, trade demands

In his annual summer league news conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday,
commissioner Adam Silver said that doesn't sit well with him.

"My sense in the room today was, especially when it comes to free agency and
the rules around it, that we've got work to do," said Silver, who was speaking
after the annual board of governors meetings wrapped up.

"... it's still the same principles of fair balance of power and a sense that
it's a level playing field. I think that's what teams want to know. I think
they're put in difficult situations because when they're sitting across from a
player and whether it's conversations that are happening earlier than they
should or frankly things are being discussed that don't fall squarely within
the collective bargaining agreement, it puts teams in a very difficult
position because they are reading or hearing that other teams are doing other
things to compete, and at the end of the day, that's what this league is
about: competing for championships."

Aside from Kawhi Leonard, all of the most discussed names -- the likes of
Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker -- agreed to deals soon after free
agency opened, leading some to suggest that teams had ignored rules in place
to level the playing field.

"My job is to enforce a fair set of rules for all our teams and a set of rules
that are clear and make sense for everyone," said Silver. "I think right now
we're not quite there."

Silver also expressed frustration with players publicly demanding trades.

"It falls in the same category of issues of the so-called rule of law within a
sports league. You have a contract and it needs to be meaningful on both
sides. There's an expectation if you have a contract and it's guaranteed that
the team is going to meet the terms of the contract, and the expectation on
the other side is the player is going to meet the terms of the contract," said
Silver. "Trade demands are disheartening. They're disheartening to the team.
They're disheartening to the community and don't serve the player well. The
players care about their reputations just as much. So that's an issue that
needs to be addressed."

--Field Level Media