Silver praises LeBron, Warriors while addressing league parity

With the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers meeting in The Finals for the past four seasons, some fans claim to be suffering from matchup fatigue, clamoring for new teams in the championship.

With the Warriors' roster one of the best ever assembled and LeBron James on the Cavaliers, it has been difficult for other teams to break through during this current stretch.

Commissioner Adam Silver addressed this during a Wednesday appearance on ESPN's Golic and Wingo, pointing to James' brilliance in getting to eight straight finals overriding any type of system that could be put in place to create more parity.

"He's played with 59 different teammates over the last eight years," Silver said with a laugh. "I'm not sure what system we could develop if supposedly the right outcome is he shouldn't be in The Finals for eight years in a row."

As for the Warriors' dominance? Silver credited their excellent timing with the bump in salary cap, which allowed them to sign Kevin Durant, and a period of exceptional drafting by the front office.

"It was a bit of an aberration in our system; we had a spike in our cap which enabled them to have additional cap room (to sign Durant)." Silver said. "Steph Curry, drafted; Klay Thompson, drafted; Draymond Green, drafted 35th by the Golden State Warriors."

While the teams in The Finals have remained the same, the conference championship series were both hotly contested this year. Silver pointed toward that as a sign that the NBA is more than a two-team league.

"For the first time in 39 years, we had two seven-game conference finals," Silver said. "You could say the Rockets were built to defeat the Warriors and they were right there. They had Game 7 at home. In Game 5, Chris Paul injured himself and wasn't in the game that the whole season was built on being in."

With James expected to explore free agency this season, the balance of power could shift to whatever team he ends up signing with. If it's the Cavaliers again, don't be shocked to see Round 5 of The Finals between the two teams.