Charles Barkley invited NBA Commissioner Adam Silver onto his TNT show this week, where he pressed him about the recent series of domestic violence incidents involving several league players.
“They said go to commercial, but I’ve got a serious question for you,” Barkley asked Silver. “There’s been a couple disturbing incidents of domestic violence in the NBA right now, what we doing to address that? Because you can’t put your hands on women, man. And we should be on the forefront in sports. … So what are we as a league doing to do about that?”
“That’s an area where we’re not looking to compete against other leagues when you say forefront. I think all the leagues are trying to address this issue. But I know, again, our players association, credit to them, this wasn’t adversarial. We put in place a new program for how we deal with, first of all, accusations of domestic violence even before they’re prosecuted. Part of it goes to the training of our players,” Silver replied.
Charles Barkley asks Adam Silver about the domestic violence issues within the NBA pic.twitter.com/dhU73K4MGO
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 24, 2023
Siler went on to add that the league is “addressing” the issue, he didn’t say much beyond the topic of counseling. “We have state-of-the-art counseling professionals dealing with our players, but of course, if a guy does cross the line, the consequences are enormous.”
Bridges is not the only player under the glare of the domestic violence spotlight.
Kevin Porter Jr. is facing two felony charges connected to a domestic violence arrest for allegedly assaulting his now-former girlfriend. However, as Porter waived and is now out of the league, the NBA cannot take any action against him.
Viewers were surprised by Barkley’s challenging line of questioning but applauded his dedication to holding Silver’s feet to the fire. The Athletic later confirmed Barkley’s probe to be “on the spot and not scripted” during the broadcast.
