Meet NBA’s Adam Silver, Commissioner David Stern’s successor

He is the guy you get to see once the NBA draft in June descends into sheer monotony — also known as the second round. But he knows the names and gets them right. That would be the league’s deputy commissioner, Adam Silver, who will succeed David Stern on Feb. 1, 2014.

Of course, Silver is more than the guy standing at the podium once a year. He has been at his current job as Stern’s No. 2 since 2006, following in the footsteps of Russ Granik, and has long been considered the favorite to eventually run the league.

Previously, Silver, 50, was president and chief operating officer of NBA Entertainment. His influence has increased through his two decades of work with the league, including a role in the last three collective bargaining agreements with the NBA Players Assn., the last two TV deals, the launch of NBA TV and the expansion of the NBA’s digital assets on numerous platforms. NBA TV is now available in 60 million U.S. homes.

Silver had downplayed the popular theory about Stern’s succession as recently as July when he was quizzed about it during an appearance on NBA TV during the Summer League in Las Vegas.

“Oh, David’s got another 20 years in him,” he said. “No comment. I’m just doing my job. I have the second-best job in the world right now. I couldn’t be happier.”

Before joining the NBA, Silver worked at the New York legal firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and also clerked for federal Judge Kimba Wood, who was once a nominee for U.S. attorney general during the Clinton administration.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com