Adam Silver was asked for his assessment on what the data shows about player movement in the NBA in response to last week's trade of James Harden for Ben Simmons.

"First of all, I think we've all changed our view," said Silver. 

Silver referenced a bygone era in which David Stern would discuss the superstars of the NBA such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan with how they were tied to a single franchise. 

"Now what we're seeing in the league, first of all, shorter contracts," said Silver. "Which I don't think is a bad idea because one of the things we tried to do with our players association back beginning around 10 years ago was tie performance to pay in a closer way. And I think that's what we've seen with shorter contracts.

"The data shows that superstars moving isn't necessarily a bad thing because it allows bad situations to [resolve] in an orderly way, to change. It gives teams that may not be in a competitive position hope that they can sign one of those players.

"But shorter contracts to me is something very different and free agents moving at the end of contracts is different than what we just saw where you have players actively seeking to move while they're under contract. The data is clear on that, that's not good for the league."