Adam Silver was asked on Tuesday where he currently stands on the rule that American-born high school players must go to college for at least one year before becoming eligible for the NBA Draft.

"I’m a big fan of college basketball," said Silver. "I’ve been watching the tournament. It’s been incredibly exciting. I’d say from the league’s standpoint, our stance remains the same. We’d rather these young men spend two years out of high school rather than one, which is our current rule, before entering the NBA.

"Having said that, I recognize it’s an incredibly complicated issue, and there are all kinds of life factors for these players that they need to balance. I understand it, the right to earn a living as a professional, the league interest in their spending additional time away from their homes, the maturation of them as young men, the maturation of them as players. We try to balance all of that. So we’re currently at 19 as the minimum age. Again, I recognize that there are two sides to this issue. I’m very sympathetic to the players and their families in terms of they’re feeling they’re at the point in their lives at 18 that they should be able to come directly to the NBA.

"At the same time, I’m making a business decision for the NBA, which is to the betterment of the league and the roughly 430 jobs we have in this league. We feel that these players are better off having more time developing as players before they enter into this league.

"And I’ll add one other factor, which is the more we study the wear-and-tear on their bodies, we’re now seeing the type of injuries in young players that we used to see when they were much older. I think there needs to be more of a holistic response to this. It isn’t just about whether the minimum age should be 19 versus 20. I think, as I’ve said before, we need to get together with the larger basketball community and talk about the number of games these young players, boys, are playing, beginning 12, 13, 14, often eight games in a weekend at tournaments. For example, I’ve said before, in Little League, there’s a pitch count. And this is a place where historically at least when I got involved in the league, people were telling the NBA to stay out of youth basketball. I think it’s clear now we need to be more involved in youth basketball.

"The age issue is part of it, but I think back to the question about Kobe, it’s something that he’s been particularly focused on. The last two times we’ve met, it’s almost exclusively what he wanted to talk about as he was stepping away from the game, about his experience growing up as a player, largely outside of the United States, versus sort of how the system works now and how we can do a better job preparing these young men for the NBA."

Silver was also asked how big of a factor this rule will be in CBA negotiations with the players.

"Without getting into specifics, it’s something we continue to discuss. But as I said, and Jeanie Buss is on our Labor Relations Committee, it’s not as if we’re just adversaries on this issue. It’s a discussion with the players in the room about what’s the best way to develop players going forward in the league."

While the NBA will move up the end of the moratorium for this year's free agency, it will not be a change in perpetuity as part of the current collective bargaining agreement.

The moratorium will last from July 1st until July 6th.

It previously was scheduled to run until July 11th.

The change in the length of the moratorium has been attributed by some to what happened last offseason with DeAndre Jordan backing out of his agreement with the Dallas Mavericks to re-sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.

The NBA has had several weeks of "clandestine collective bargaining" discussions with the players' union.

The NBA and its union has until Dec. 15 to give official notification that they plan to opt out of the current 10-year collective bargaining agreement in 2017 and clear the way for a possible work stoppage. 

The NBA and players have broken down into several groups and committees to discuss multiple areas of the CBA.

Both sides have tried to keep discussions private.

Michael Jordan has emerged as a strong voice championing small market franchises across several weeks of discussions with the players association.

Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets, is now on the labor-relations committee.

Jordan earned his way onto the committee. 

“[Jordan] did it the old fashioned way,” one high-ranking official with strong ownership ties told The Vertical. “He observed. He listened. He wanted to understand the process. He wanted to serve. The players don’t see him as a player – they see him as an owner."

The owners are negotiating against a union executive committee that includes Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, so the presence of Jordan changes the tone in the room.

The NBA and NBPA have agreed to shorten the July free agent moratorium to five days.

The moratorium will last from July 1st until July 6th.

It previously was scheduled to run until July 11th.

The length of the moratorium became an issue last offseason when DeAndre Jordan backed out of his agreement with the Dallas Mavericks to re-sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Michele Roberts was interviewed by Adrian Wojnarowski and was asked about the perception some people have that NBA players already make enough money, particularly when it comes to negotiating their split of basketball related income.

"I'm not prepared to concede the narrative to those who think players make too much," said Roberts. "Part of what I think is not being talked about sufficiently is players are making money, owners are making money. 

"Forbes, we read just recently that the value of these teams, thank you Donald Sterling, we know what a team can make on the open market.

"Part of what I've observed in my review of the history of these negotiations is that there's been so much focus on what people perceive to be the player's compensation and virtually no focus on what the owners are able to enjoy. Which is not to say they shouldn't enjoy, but talk about making money, talk about the owners. Talk about the value of these teams: recall the players do not share in the value of those teams even though they absolutely do contribute to creating the value.

"I'm not going to say, well, 'I can't change the hearts and minds', perhaps I can't, but I'm not going to allow the narrative to be out there that the only people that are profiting from this game are the players and the poor owners are taking all of the risk and they're not enjoying any of this money. Oh, they are in a huge way. And the only question is whether the division of those dollars is a fair one.

"I'm not going to allow people to point fingers at the players without a full appreciation of the entire fabric of this business. If the reality is that as the game is growing financial, owners are holding onto those teams for a reason. There is a great deal of value. And there's a long line of folks that would love to buy a basketball team."

There is uncertainty surrounding the potential acquisition of the Minnesota Timberwolves by a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Steve Kaplan, who is a California venture capitalist that had planned to sell his Grizzlies stake to buy 30 percent of the Wolves with a path to eventually take over as controlling owner. But a dispute between Kaplan and Grizzlies owner Robert Pera over shares in the team led to a behind-the-scenes battle that took months to resolve.

It was recently settled after Kaplan threatened to initiate an arbitration procedure.

The resulting delay has put Kaplan's deal with Wolves owner Glen Taylor in jeopardy. Kaplan and an investor went to Minneapolis earlier this month to meet with Taylor to help salvage the process.

Pera has been distant from Memphis over the last year, and has excluded minority owners from any meaningful participation in team decision-making, which is his right as controlling owner. 

Kaplan has been asking for close to $100 million for his 14 percent share -- pegging the team's value at roughly $700 million.

The situation could drag on until October of 2017 as Kaplan and Pera have a deal in which he has the option to make a bid for controlling interest in the team at a price of their choosing. At that point Pera would have two options: buy out Kaplan and Straus at that named price, or sell his shares to them based on the same valuation. 

The so-called "buy-sell" clause is merely an option, and it is unclear if Kaplan or Daniel Straus would ever actually trigger it.

Spurs Sports & Entertainment announced that Peter M. Holt has retired as the organization’s Chairman and CEO and that Julianna Hawn Holt will assume both roles. Holt has held the position since 1996 when the Holts became the largest shareholder in San Antonio Spurs, LLC. Holt will remain on the organization’s board of managers and continue as part of the ownership group while Julianna will become the team’s Governor on the NBA’s Board of Governors.

“I’m proud of what we’ve achieved over the last two decades,” said Peter Holt. “The championships are wonderful, bringing new sports franchises to San Antonio is important but the biggest accomplishment for me will always be the impact we’ve had in our community. The pride, support and love that our city has for the Spurs is truly amazing.”

Under the Holts’ leadership, the team has become one of the premier franchises in North American sports. The Spurs have captured five NBA titles (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014) while qualifying for the playoffs 19 straight seasons. The 2015-16 Spurs have a 54-10 record, the best mark to start a season in franchise history, and are a perfect 30-0 at home, which is the third best home record to start a season in NBA history.

“Our ownership in the Spurs has always been a family affair,” said Julianna Hawn Holt. “For many years I’ve had the desire to take a more active role with Spurs Sports & Entertainment. We felt this was the right time to make this transition. We are very excited about the current Spurs season and the future of the organization.”