NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is impressed with Bucks' new arena and the 'Giannis Effect'

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was on hand at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Thursday night for Game 6 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics.

Journal Sentinel Bucks beat reporter Matt Velazquez caught up with Silver at halftime to ask him a few questions.

Q. I heard you had a tour of the new arena. What are your thoughts after seeing it up close and the way this area is starting to transform?

A. I'll just start by saying the exterior is beautiful. I've seen arenas all over the United States, all over the world for that matter. And they've done a fantastic job. Architecturally, aesthetically, it fits really well within the community. And then in terms of the interior, I got the full tour: Bucks locker room, Marquette locker room, the suites, the clubs, the upper bowl. It's fantastic. Unique sight lines. Very open, clean sight lines. You can see into the corners from anywhere in the arena. Great club spaces where you can get something to eat, something to drink but still have terrific sight lines to the floor. And then, for the players, the beautiful practice facility across the street, which is obviously very important. So I talked to the ownership group here, to Senator (Herb) Kohl for the contributions he's made to making this all happen. I've been sitting with Senator Kohl at the game and I said to him, "Everything is happening just as he'd hoped." And he agreed.

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Q. You look at the Bradley Center and the environment they have here. I don’t know if this will be your last time here, but do you have any memories in this building that stand out?

A. I have memories from my early days in the league. I started in the early ‘90s and I’ve always been very close to Senator Kohl. Wonderful teams here over the years, great community spirit. I actually was just saying hello to Michael Redd who just swung by. Just a great tradition — Bob Lanier is someone who I’ve become very close to over the years; he works with me in the league office. This has been a long tradition of great basketball. This has been an important community asset and it’s great to see that tradition’s going to continue for decades with this new arena.

Q. Around here they call it the "Giannis Effect," the way (Giannis Antetokounmpo) has affected them both on the court and in their marketing. I’m sure you see that on a league-wide basis, too. How impressive is what he’s been able to do on and off the court and how they’ve mobilized that?

A. I’d say for Giannis he’s got a great global following because he’s got Nigeria, really the whole continent of Africa, Greece and all of Europe and of course now Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the United States. He’s beloved everywhere, but in addition to that not only is he, of course, a superstar player but he’s just a wonderful young man. He’s got a ton of energy, he really cares about his community, he cares about the league. He’s the first to raise his hand to help with programs not just here in the United States but overseas in the summer. I love the fact that he’s going to be with us for a long, long time and he seems to get better every week.