Adam Silver envisage un âge limite pour la participation des joueurs de la NBA à la Coupe du monde et aux Jeux olympiques.

NBA – The head of the NBA discusses the establishment of this age limit for the World Cup or the Olympic Games.

Draymond Green is one of the few who has expressed his intentions. For the moment, it is difficult to imagine what the composition of the American team will look like at the next World Cup. It is even more difficult to project since the Paris Olympics will take place the following summer. Some players undoubtedly imagine choosing one competition over the other.

“I think we have seen that Americans are more focused on the Olympic competitions,” notes Adam Silver, who believes that international players would naturally gravitate towards other major events, including the World Cup. The last edition of the Euro, with many league stars (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic…), demonstrated this fact.

So, how can we ensure that Team USA will always be able to enlist enough talent for each competition? Especially since the American federation recently changed its rules: players will no longer be required to commit to several summers to play in the Olympics.

“I think it is too much to ask that our best players return to the court every two years and participate in independent competitions during the summer. If we put aside ‘load management’ for a moment, there is no doubt that the wear and tear is enormous. This brings up the question of the WNBA concerning women who play all year round. You need rest,” says Adam Silver.

The solution according to the latter? “We should work with our federation and, whether it’s the World Cup or the Olympic Games, maybe have one competition where the age limit is unlimited and where the best players play, and the other with the best players under 23 years old or something like that.“

A model based on football. While the World Cup remains the flagship competition, at the Olympic Games, only players under 23 years old are allowed to play (with three exceptions for each team).

Such an outcome would obviously denature the competition in question and would likely give credence to the supporters of this famous “load management”. And this, just as the Americans had returned to the top of world basketball by relying on the repeated presences of a core group of players (LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade…).