In the aftermath of the shocking Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis swap between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers, many were calling for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to ‘veto’ the trade, something that has been done once but under much different circumstances during the David Stern era. In that particular situation, Stern was acting in the interest of the New Orleans Hornets, as the league owned the team at the time.

Silver explained on the podcast Pardon My Take that all the NBA front office does is make sure that the contracts in trades work “under the confines of the collective bargaining agreement” and that they have no say in roster moves other than that.

READ MORE: Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving doesn’t hold back on facing Warriors’ Steph Curry

“Did you at least text [GM Nico Harrison], ‘Are you sure?'” asked one cohost, Big Cat, jokingly. Dallas has become a punchline in basketball front-office discussions across the NBA. Silver shook his head before being asked about whether he was excited that Doncic had landed in a market as big as Los Angeles, a point with which he disagreed.

“Look at the league right now…two smaller market teams…have the two best records in the league…and I think that’s great. We’ve had six different NBA champions in the past six years…This may sound obvious, but I want all of our teams to do well and be competitive, and frankly, Dallas is a big market. So, was I surprised from that standpoint that he was traded? Yeah, I’m a fan…teams don’t necessarily give the league inside information…so this trade wasn’t one that I saw coming.”

READ MORE: Former Mavericks executive goes off on Patrick Dumont over Luka Doncic remarks

The commissioner was pretty candid in his reasoning here, further pointing away from conspiracy theories and towards the fact that the Mavericks front office really did independently make this choice, to the chagrin of an entire fanbase and shock of everybody else. People may not like Adam Silver for whatever reason, but it does not seem like the NBA is guilty of collusion in this particular case.

Stick with MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2024-25 Season

Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Keenan Womack on Twitter.