SAN FRANCISCO >> NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has a message to those Dallas Mavericks fans who are still angry, two weeks later: He feels your pain.

That said, he’s also sure that the Mavericks believe that their decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis was — in their minds, at least — the best possible move for the franchise.

Silver, in his annual address at All-Star weekend on Saturday, said he had no advance word that the trade was looming and that he was surprised like everyone else.

“I can say one thing for sure: Whether or not history will ultimately judge this as a smart trade, they did what they thought was in the best interest of their organization,” Silver said. “I have absolutely no knowledge or belief there were any ulterior motives, no doubt in my mind that the Dumont-Adelson families bought that team to keep it in Dallas. I have no doubt whatsoever that they’re committed to the long-term success of that franchise.”

In other topics covered by Silver on Saturday:

Timberwolves’ sale to A-Rod, Lore

A few days after an arbitration panel ruled that ownership transfer of the Minnesota Timberwolves to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez — who would get the majority stake for $1.5 billion — must continue as originally planned, Silver said the league is waiting to see what happens next.

“My expectation is that will move forward. But first, Glen Taylor does have a decision to make as to whether to appeal that arbitration decision,” Silver said. “I mean, that’s Glen’s decision to make. I haven’t talked to him directly about that. I think, though, that A-Rod, certainly Marc Lore, are well-known to the league at this point. They’ve already been vetted and approved as minority owners.”

Silver said he sees no reason why the sale wouldn’t be approved, but stopped short of speaking for the Board of Governors and the decision they would have to make to get the sale across the finish line.

Rescinded Hornets-Lakers trade

A week after a trade between Charlotte and the Lakers fell through because of the results of Hornets center Mark Williams’ physical, Silver said the Hornets have not filed a formal appeal with the league.

The Lakers rescinded the trade.

“Let’s see what Charlotte decides to do here,” Silver said. “But I think either way, it’s gotten our attention. We understand that in the back and forth of teams and trades that the extent we can reduce uncertainty, that’s a positive thing.”

TV ratings

The NBA hasn’t hidden from the fact that their television ratings aren’t where the league wants them to be, but Silver sees progress.

“I’ll begin with the state of our ratings right now as they’re conventionally measured,” Silver said. “They’re slightly down from last season. We had some weakness early in the season. We rebounded. The ratings are heading up right now.”

The NBA also doesn’t solely look at ratings. The league’s footprint on social media is growing and is at “record popularity,” Silver said, and he said that the TV numbers don’t show the interest from podcasts and other forms of new media.

Herro beats Hield deep

Miami’s Tyler Herro edged out Golden State’s Buddy Hield to win the 3-point contest at the NBA’s All-Star Saturday night.

Damian Lillard missed a chance to join Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players to three-peat as 3-point champions with his score of 18 falling one point short of Herro for the final spot in the three-person final.

Herro followed up his third-place performance in the opening round to set the pace in the final with 24 points.

Skills Challenge

Cleveland duo Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell teamed up to knock off hometown heroes Moses Moody and Green to win the NBA’s Skills Challenge crown.

The final game after San Antonio’s duo of Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul was disqualified for trying to cheat the rules in the obstacle course that features players speeding through stations with various passing and shooting drills.

Wembanyama and Paul went first in the opening round and were loudly booed for not even trying to make real attempts on their shots, just tossing the balls off the racks.

Dunk Contest

Mac McClung pulled off four perfect dunks for an unprecedented NBA dunk contest three-peat.

The G League star and dunk maven put on a remarkable show at NBA All-Star Saturday night by recording perfect scores of 50 on all four of his dunks to become the first player to win three straight dunk contests.