WATCH: Charles Barkley Goes Off Script, Grills NBA Commish Adam Silver Over Recent ‘Disturbing’ Domestic Violence Incidents in League
NBA analyst Charles Barkley on Tuesday went off the script during an interview with Commissioner Adam Silver to address how the league handles domestic violence.
Mere weeks before the NBA season began, multiple players made headlines for their alleged roles in domestic disputes. In September, Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested in New York for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in New York. He has since been traded and waived.
In October, a summons was issued for Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges for his involvement in a dispute with his ex-girlfriend. The incident came after Bridges missed the entire 2022-23 season due to a prior dispute.
Silver appeared on Inside the NBA on Tuesday to discuss topics ranging from the season ahead to the suspension of Ja Morant. Before the interview concluded and the show went to commercial, Barkley interjected to bring up the recent controversies.
“There’s a couple disturbing incidents of domestic violence in the NBA right now,” Barkley said to Silver. “What are we doing to address that? Because that is a — you can’t put your hands on women, man — and we should be at the forefront in sports when men hit women. So what are we, as a league, gonna do about that?”
The question seemed to take Silver by surprise. Still, the commissioner listed a number of initiatives the league has put in place for such instances.
“Our Players Association — credit to them — this wasn’t adversarial,” Silver said. “We put in place a new program for how we deal with, first of all, accusations of domestic violence even before they’re prosecuted. Part of it goes to training of our players, counseling of our players so they understand during high-stress situations, obviously, never resort to violence against anyone.
“And so we’re addressing it. We have state-of-the-art counseling professionals dealing with our players. But, of course, if a guy does cross the line, the consequences are enormous.”
Watch above via TNT
