NBA commissioner Adam Silver has endorsed the idea that the league should not use the term “owner.” Speaking to TMZ Sports about the growing movement among some teams to ban the term, Silver stated, “We moved away from that term years ago … I don’t want to overreact to the term because, as I said earlier, people end up twisting themselves into knots avoiding the use of the word owner. But, we moved away from that term years ago in the league … We call our team owners ‘Governor of the team’ and ‘alternate Governor.'”
TMZ noted in early June that the Los Angeles Clippers listed their owner, Steve Ballmer, as “Chairman” rather than “Owner” in early 2018 although prior to that he had been listed as “Owner.” TMZ added that the burgeoning movement to ban the term was given added impetus by Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors in late 2018 when he appeared on LeBron James’ “The Shop.” On the show, comedian Jon Stewart stated, “The fact that they still call people with those teams ‘owners,’ when does that change?” He added, “When your product is purely the labor of people, then owner sounds like something that is of a feudal nature.”
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