Why didn’t Adam Silver hand out the NBA championship trophy to the Golden State Warriors?
With the league’s commissioner absent, the trophy giving responsibilities fell to someone when the Warriors overcame the Celtics in Game 6.
The commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, wasn’t present for Game 6 of the NBA Finals as he continued to see out his period in health and safety protocols related to covid-19.
NBA’s Adam Silver missed Game 6 of NBA Finals
The news came after Silver missed Game 5 for the same reason. It remains unclear as to whether or not Silver tested positive for covid-19 or if he was a close contact of someone who had. Silver referred to the situation as “lousy timing.”
With the Warriors leading the series 3-2, he knew that Game 6 could well prove be the last game of the NBA Finals. And that’s exactly what is was as the Celtics were defeated 103-90 at the TD Garden. If the Celtics had forced a Game 7, Silver would have been on hand to see all the action with reports on Thursday indicating that he would have cleared protocols in one day. Interestingly, this is the first time in Silver’s time as commissioner that he’s missed an NBA Finals game.
Who handed out the Larry O’Brien trophy with no Silver?
Some had pointed out that it was the duty of the league’s commissioner to hand out the championship trophy. Without Silver present to see the Warriors close out the series on Thursday night, the big moment instead fell on the shoulders of Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum.
NBA fans, of course, recognized Tatum from the NBA’s Draft lottery as well as being the announcer for second round picks in the NBA Draft itself.
The effect of covid-19 on the NBA
Credit must be given to the NBA in that the league has not had any severe outbreaks to speak of or lengthy absences of individuals. True, there have been a handful of situations such as the Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who missed three games in Golden State’s second-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies, after being placed in protocols.
There was also Paul Pierce who missed a play-in game, but in general the NBA has avoided major absences since mid season. With all that said, one can imagine that commissioner Silver will be somewhat disappointed not to have made it to the biggest moment of the season. There’s always next year...