As Inside the NBA‘s season kickoff interview in Denver with league commissioner Adam Silver wound to a close on Tuesday night, TNT star Charles Barkley ignored a commercial break to ask perhaps the most important question of the night.
“There’s a couple of disturbing incidents of domestic violence occurring in the NBA right now,” Barkley began. “What are we doing to address that?”
Silver explained how the NBA is training and counseling its athletes under a new policy passed earlier this year.
“We’re addressing it,” Silver said. “We have state-of-the-art counseling and professionals for our players. But of course, if a guy does cross the line, the consequences are enormous.”
Charles Barkley confronts NBA commissioner Adam Silver after numerous offseason incidents of domestic violence among NBA athletes: pic.twitter.com/u0LjxLiLRd
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The NBA is currently dealing with two high-profile cases of DV among players.
Free agent guard Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested for assault and strangulation of his partner in a New York City hotel earlier this month. Porter has not been punished by the NBA.
Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges pled no contest to charges of harming the mother of his child as well as child abuse of his son. Bridges went months without a formal decision by the league before being served with a 30-game suspension this past April. Bridges was then re-signed by Charlotte over the summer while the NBA said 20 games had already been served.
A copy of the NBA and NBPA domestic violence policy is available on GitHub. It describes training and education as well as a confidential, 24/7 hotline available to players and their families. It defines the commissioner as having the power to place players on administrative lead for breaking rules, either before or after a criminal trial. The commissioner also has the power to “fine, suspend, or dismiss and disqualify” offenders.
Silver has not taken that step with Bridges or Porter.
While Silver gave a rushed answer here on live television, he has every opportunity to elaborate more. Fans want to know how the NBA plans to approach domestic violence going forward. And as NBA followers continue to question the league’s handling of both cases, credit to the popular Barkley for pressing Silver on it.
Bridges will serve his suspension to start the season while Porter remains a free agent.
If you or someone you know is a victim of Domestic Violence, help is always available. Please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.