Silver's announcement sounds promising after the poor reception to the tournament structure applied to this year's All-Star Game. Whatever the format of the game, Silver's decision to pivot to a format with a global identity appropriately accommodates their media partner's broadcast plans for the Milano Cortina Games in Northeast Italy.

Commissioner Adam Silver offered hope to cities looking to land an NBA franchise, saying Thursday that the league "should be exploring" expansion. Silver addressed the media in his annual state-of-the-league talk ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the host Oklahoma City Thunder.

Silver also said that he "see the benefit to reducing the number of games" in the regular season when discussing shortening schedules.