It doesn’t sound like there will be an NBA team coming to Nashville, Tennessee any time soon, but NBA commissioner Adam Silver would like to see the Memphis Grizzlies potentially play some games in Nashville.
“Nashville is a city on the rise; there’s incredible things happening there,” Silver said during a recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, via ESPN. “If it were up to me, I would love for them to play a few games a year in Nashville and sort of be Tennessee’s team, to the extent that they can.”
Adam Silver Says He Would Like to See Grizzlies Play Some Games in Nashville
GettyNBA commissioner Adam Silver
That’s an interesting suggestion from Silver, because it’s not like Memphis and Nashville are right next to each other. A quick Google search shows that over 200 miles separates the two cities. That’s like suggesting that the Philadelphia 76ers play some home games in Pittsburgh just because the two cities are in the same state.
It’s not a quick trip to Nashville for Grizzlies fans who live in Memphis, and having multiple games outside of the city could potentially alienate those exact fans. So while in theory it might sound like a good idea, it’s tough to imagine how it would work practically. And while the Grizzlies have held training camp in Nashville for the past couple of years, that’s a vastly different thing than playing regular season games there.
Silver also pushed back on the notions that Memphis can’t be a successful NBA market and that players don’t like playing in Memphis, despite some recent suggestions to the contrary.
“[Memphis] has been a great market historically for the NBA, and there is amazing history in that city and amazing culture. There’s no reason why the Memphis Grizzlies can’t be successful,” Silver said.
“… Players I talk to all the time like playing in Memphis. I have never heard that issue of players not wanting to be in Memphis.”
Adam Silver Pushed Back on LeBron James’ Comments About Playing in Memphis
GettyLeBron James
Silver’s comments sound like a direct response to recent comments from Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James, who questioned Memphis’ standing as an NBA city. In his comments, James urged the Grizzlies to move to Nashville, emphasizing its superiority over Memphis.
“Being in Memphis on a (expletive) random ass Thursday,” James said. “I’m not like the first guy to even talk about it in the NBA. We all, like, ‘You guys have to move. Just go over to Nashville. You got Vanderbilt over there, you got the (expletive) NASCAR, you got a stadium. Don’t they got a hockey team? Like, they’ve got everything.”
James went as far as to say that if the Grizzlies had drafted him in 2003 instead of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he wouldn’t have even show up to play for the team, à la Eli Manning.
“Their only chance was in 2003 if they would’ve won the lottery to get me,” James said. “And I might’ve pulled an Eli Manning and not shown up.”
While fans in Memphis probably wouldn’t be happy about their home team playing games in a different city, James obviously would be.
Adam Silver Wants to See Memphis Grizzlies Play Some Games in Nashville