NBA Chief Wants More Women Involved In Official Games, Teams

The NBA is always open to changes and one thing that league commissioner Adam Silver wants to happen is getting more females involved in games. While several teams like the San Antonio Spurs have started to do that, the NBA top brass believes that female referees can also do well like their male counterparts.

Silver was at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. and revealed that two of the five new referees from the G-League are women. The NBA now has three female referees in total, ESPN reported. But moving forward, that number is expected to increase with Silver saying that he sees no advantage of being a man when it calls to officiating games.

"The goal is: Going forward, it should be roughly 50-50 of new officials entering in the league. Same for coaches, by the way. We have a program, too. There's no reason why women shouldn't be coaching men's basketball," he said.

As for female coaches, the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Wizards already made their moves. Becky Hamon and Kristi Toliver are now serving as assistant coaches for the Spurs and Wizards respectively. At some point, the NBA may have a female head coach calling the shots for one of the teams.

Normally, women in the NBA are limited to top office jobs. Kelly Krauskopf is the first woman to hold the title of assistant general manager for the Indiana Pacers and more could be following soon. Unlike being a referee or a coach, holding a front office job seems more logical although Silver wants all this to change. He believes there is equal opportunity among men and women in the NBA although the transition could slowly sink in moving forward.

There were more things discussed by Silver as he shares some of his plans for the NBA moving forward. That included addressing the annual NBA All-Star game which he pointed out has become nothing more as a highlight show of dunks and shotmaking.

“If they and their teams don’t really want to play an exciting All-Star Game, we’ve got to come up with a new concept,” Silver said in a report from Manila Bulletin Sports.

Rather than holding the annual event, some possible alternatives include a pocket tournament. There would be a new prize at stake although this can only happen if the NBA reduces its regular season games.