Adam Silver Cancels Magic City Night as NBA Faces Bigger Issues

Over the last few weeks, much has been made about the Atlanta Hawks hosting a Magic City Night promotion.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Magic City is a legendary gentleman’s club in the heart of Atlanta. Once upon a time, Lou Williams broke quarantine in the NBA bubble to secure some of their famous wings. Does it feel a little weird for a professional basketball team to be celebrating a strip club? Maybe a little. But the Hawks explained that the night was to pay homage to a staple in Atlanta’s culture – which sounded fair enough.

The Hawks announced this game promotion last month, which was set to feature Magic City’s famous lemon pepper wings and live music from Atlanta native TI. But this announcement was met with backlash, including from San Antonio Spurs player Luke Kornet, who spoke out about the event’s anti-women undertone.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver stepped in on Monday and canceled the event.

“When we became aware of the Atlanta Hawks’ scheduled promotion, we reached out to Hawks leadership to better understand their plans and rationale,” Silver said in a statement. “While we appreciate the team’s perspective and their desire to move forward, we have heard significant concerns from a broad array of league stakeholders, including fans, partners and employees. I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community.

The game was scheduled for Monday’s matchup against the Orlando Magic. Now, the concourse of State Farm Arena could feel empty on Monday evening.

But doesn’t Silver have bigger fish to fry?

It feels like half of the NBA is purposely trying to lose games, as the sweepstakes for Kansas star Darryn Peterson and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa have heated up. Every other week, Silver leaks a report that the NBA is going to modify the NBA Draft Lottery to stop teams from tanking.

But that hasn’t stopped anybody quite yet.

In the East, the eighth seeded Philadelphia 76ers are only four games above .500. Out West, the Sacramento Kings just celebrated their league-worst 50th loss of the season. In total, 12 teams are below .500.

The NBA Playoffs get going next month, and there’s almost no buzz. The Detroit Pistons have been one of the stories of the season so far. They’re the No. 1 seed in the East, but have lost four straight games and are fading fast. Victory Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs find themselves just three games behind the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder with less than 20 games to play.

The storylines are there for the taking, but it feels like there’s no excitement surrounding any of this.

So take away Magic City Night. What’s it to prove? That the NBA is willing to take a stance for women? As one fan on X accurately quipped, I’d probably feel better explaining what Magic City was to a young fan instead of explaining who Karl Malone was, the man who has a statue outside of the Delta Center in Utah.

It’s an issue that felt blown out of proportion from the moment it was announced. Taking away some lemon pepper wings and a TI performance? That’s really just punishing Hawks fans, who have been through enough as the ninth seed in the East.

Silver has bigger problems on his hands this offseason. But for one day, he can pat himself on the back that he put an end to the evil and cruel Magic City Night.