5 takeaways from Adam Silver's state of the union address

NBA commissioner Adam Silver conducted his annual state of the union ahead of Saturday night's All-Star festivities.

Silver also took questions from the press. Here is a rundown of what you might have missed.

On lowering the minimum age requirement:

We absolutely need the union in order to revisit the age - the current age minimum of 19 years old, but something Michele (Roberts) and I discussed directly - and this is different than last time we negotiated a Collective Bargaining Agreement - is that rather than say to you that talk to us in seven years when we sit back down to negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, I think she and I both agree that it's the kind of issue that needs to be studied, in essence, outside of the bright lights of collective bargaining. ...

I think rather than standing here and saying league's goal is to get from 19 to 20, I think I have a better understanding of the issue now as well as I talk to some of the young players who are coming into our league who have only completed a portion of their freshman year in college and have a better understanding of what the conditions are for them both academically and in terms of their basketball requirements.

And, again, it is one of those issues that doesn't lend itself well to one of 50 issues we're trying to get through in a collective bargaining session, but, again, I think both Michele and I agree that it's something we should turn back to right away, partly have a better understanding.

On moving the All-Star Game back to Charlotte

We're not involved directly with legislatures. I have talked to Governor Cooper, the new Governor of North Carolina since he was elected, really to express our desire to return to North Carolina next year (2019) for our All-Star Game. We have a team in North Carolina. We have a development team, soon to be a G-League team, in North Carolina. And 20 other teams will visit North Carolina this season. So we'd very much like to get back there.

We had a discussion so I understood, certainly, his position, when he was running for office, was anti-HB2, the bill that ultimately led to our leaving. So I really was talking to him more to understand, from his standpoint, how he was hoping to move forward in terms of changing that law. My pain purpose of talking to him was to express our desire to return next year.

In terms of laws in other jurisdictions, it's something we continue to monitor very closely. You know, I'm not ready to draw bright lines. Clearly, though, the laws of the state, ordinances, and cities are a factor we look at in deciding where to play our All-Star Games.

On President Trump's travel ban:

I do have concern about travel bans. Putting aside the justification for them for a second because I don't have access to the same intelligence obviously or security information that people in the government do, but we are a business based on global mobility. As I said earlier, 25 percent of our players were born outside of the United States. We do a tremendous amount of business on a global basis, and if you think about what the NBA stands for, it's, in essence, the very best all coming together, the very best in the world all coming together to perform at the highest level.

So government restrictions on travel, I am concerned about. It goes against the fundamental values and the fundamental ingredients of what make for a great NBA, and that is the very best in the world coming here. Of the current state of that travel ban, of course, is that it was struck down by the court. So I have nothing to add to that.

On the Dolan-Oakley dispute:

I'm still hopeful that Charles will sort of come back into the family. Again, when Jim Dolan invited him back to Madison Square Garden, Charles did not say, wonderful, let's take out the schedule and pick a game. In fact, he was very emotional in the meeting, and he said it was something he wanted to think about. And in my subsequent conversations with him, I have said, I think you should continue to think about it. And whether that's a month from now, six months from now, or a year from now, the fan in me and someone who's known Charles for a long time, I hope at some point he does decide to return to Madison Square Garden, but ultimately, that's his decision.

On future games set in Mexico City:

So I have nothing to announce today in terms of games in Mexico next season. But I can say I was there, as you know, in Mexico City just this past January for one of our games for the Spurs and Phoenix, and it was incredibly successful. Mexico City and the entire country is a market that we're very, very focused on. And many of our other teams that haven't played games in Mexico have seen the success there and have raised their hand and said they would be interested in playing in Mexico as well.

So stay tuned. I'm sure we’ll be making announcements in short order about next season. But my expectation is we will continue to play regular-season games in Mexico City and grow our presence throughout the country.