NBA commissioner Adam Silver, much like Santa Clause, is always watching.
On Twitter.
The Wall Street Journal‘s Jason Gay talked social media shop with the NBA commish, discussing everything from the Association’s new League Pass features to its willingness to let viewers run wild with highlight clips.
Tucked within the story is this nice little tidbit about how Silver himself is on Twitter—sometimes using the NBA’s handle, other times using his super-secret, holy-crap-he-has-a-covert-Twitter-handle to monitor what’s happening:
Every game night on Basketball Twitter you can find a loud airport Chili’s worth of fans, critics, quants and comics who care deeply about the game. (Silver is following along, too—on a stealth account; He uses the NBA Twitter when he wants to send a tweet.) The action is chronicled in real time: Basketball Twitter wants —no, it needs—you to know that Steph did this and now he’s doing that.
This. Changes. Everything.
Think about it: Silver could be following you on Twitter, and you wouldn’t even know. NBA players wouldn’t know.
And is he really using his secret account to just follow along, or has he perhaps assumed an online identity that’s actually prevalent throughout the basketball sphere? Could he perhaps be one of the trolls who seeks out writers and players hoping to incite a reaction that is actually a test of their will? Is he tweeting from one of those well-followed accounts that’s run by a fake byline?
And who, if anyone, does he follow? LeBron James? Stephen Curry? Every single NBA player? Justin Bieber?
And what’s his handle? @DavidSternGod? @ThisIsntAdamSilverISwear? @DearStephLoveYouSignedAdam?
(Not one of those accounts, for the record, actually exists.)
Silver might seem predictable on the surface, but he’s clearly an international man of mystery. And maybe this is of little surprise. We’re aware of his progressive stances on gambling and overseas expansion. The man, on many levels, is an innovator.
Is it so shocking that he’s ruling the 21st century NBA in a suit by day and from behind a keyboard at an undisclosed location at night?
