By Franklin Zessis

The Shirley Povich Center hosted its 18th Annual Povich Symposium on Nov. 17, which featured two panels that discussed the future of the NBA amid criticism about the state of the game.

John Ourand, a media reporter for the Sports Business Journal and a University of Maryland alum, moderated the first panel, which featured NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics owner Ted Leonsis.

Kevin Blackistone, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland and a columnist for The Washington Post, moderated the second panel, which featured senior columnist for The Athletic, David Aldridge, Washington Wizards’ beat reporter for The Washington Post, Ava Wallace and Frank Isola, who works for ESPN.

The first panel strongly emphasized reaching a broader audience to improve the game. Leonsis said he recently bought NBC Sports Washington, now Monumental Sports Network. 

“I value the rights to those games,” Leonsis said. “They’re probably the most valuable content rights in the world right now.”

The panel also discussed the importance of getting the NBA on all platforms so as many people as possible can watch the game.

“In five years, you’re going to be able to watch the game anywhere you want … on any device that’s available to you,” Silver said. 

To Silver, this means granting customers access to the game wherever it’s convenient for them, such as on cable, satellite or streaming platforms, not one or the other.

But the main focus for Silverin this season is “back to basketball.”

“All the great things that we’re able to accomplish stem from the game on the floor,” Silver said.

The second panel was moderated by Kevin Blackistone and featured David Aldridge, Ava Wallace and Frank Isola. They discussed league coverage and gave their opinion on what has worked and didn’t work in the NBA. Blackistone can be seen on the far left, Aldridge is on the middle left, Wallace is on the middle right and Isola is on the far right. (Photo by Franklin Zessis)

The second panel based their discussion on the topic of the in-season tournament and the drama from the players.

“What keeps the NBA going is that it is a drama league,” Isola said. 

Isola said it’s hard as a reporter to focus on the in-season tournament because, on one of the biggest nights of the in-season tournament, Draymond Green choked Rudy Gobert and then got suspended for his actions. 

Wallace also noted that players use social media platforms to speak on issues and become role models. But it’s part of a journalist’s job to hold athletes accountable when they fail to meet those expectations. Ja Morant is a role model for many young fans, but he flashed a gun on his Instagram Live and got in trouble, she said.

“Player’s power is a big story to me going forward,” Aldridge said. “You can sense the pushback from some owners, especially about players not only demand trades but demand where they want to be traded.”

The second panel also discussed the NBA’s playoff play-in tournament, which the NBA initially created for the COVID-19 season but has stuck with the league.

“The play-in tournament has worked,” Aldridge said. “There’s a lot less tanking because of it.”

Isola disagreed with the play-in tournament’s structure because he believes that it hurts teams that do well in the regular season. 

“I don’t like it,” Isola said. “If you finish with the best record, you should be able to pick who you want to play.”

Featured Image: Panelists discuss how to make NBA coverage more accessible during the Shirley Povich annual symposium on Nov. 17, 2023. Photo by Franklin Zessis