Adam Silver Promises To "Take a Fresh Look" At NBA’s Domestic Violence Policies

NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced on Monday that his league plans to reevaluate its domestic abuse policy in light of the recent string of violent incidents currently surrounding the National Football League and its players.

"It's been going on [in the NBA also], but the whole world is focused right now on what's happening around the NFL, so it'd be foolish for us not to try to learn from everything that's happening with that league as well," Silver said, as reported by the Associated Press.

Silver delivered his speech at the re-opening of a Staten Island basketball court that was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

In his comments, Silver mentioned not only educating the players on what constitutes abuse, but also providing a safety net for the players' families.

"We have in place the appropriate mechanisms for discipline, although we'll take a fresh look at those as well," Silver said. "But most importantly, it's education, and it's not just the players, but it's the players' families. That's what we're learning, too.

"We have to take these programs directly to the players' spouses, directly to their partners so that they're aware of places they can go to express concerns, whether they're anonymous hotlines, team executives, league executives. And we're consulting experts. There's a lot to be learned here. It's a societal problem; it's not one that's unique to sports."

Currently, the NBA's collective bargaining agreement mandates a 10-game suspension at minimum for any violent felony conviction.

"We do have in place, unlike the NFL, a penalty scale, and to the extent it needs any tweaking, then we'll talk about tweaking it," said Michele Roberts, the NBA's brand new union executive director. "What I hope we're going to do as well is figure out ways to prevent any occurrence like that on our side. It's one thing to know how to react in the event it happens; it's a lot smarter to try to make sure it doesn't happen in the first instance."