Charles Barkley changed the tone of “Inside the NBA” on Tuesday during the NBA’s opening night when he asked league commissioner Adam Silver about “disturbing” domestic violence issues connected to the league.

Prior to the start of the Lakers-Nuggets game in Denver, Barkley raised the question instead of cutting to commercial.

“I got a serious question for you,” Barkley said. “There’s a couple disturbing incidents of domestic violence in the NBA right now. What are we doing to address that? … You can’t put your hands on women, man. … What are we, as a league, going to do about that?”

Here’s what Silver said:

“That’s an area where we’re not looking to compete against other leagues. … Our players’ association, credit to them, this wasn’t adversarial. We put in place a new program for how we deal with, first of all, accusations of domestic violence even before they are prosecuted. Part of it goes to training of our players, counseling of our players to make sure they understand during high-stress situations, never resort to violence against anyone. We’re addressing. We have state of the art counseling professionals dealing with our players. But of course, if a guy does cross the line, the consequences are enormous.”

Earlier this month, Hornets forward Miles Bridges turned himself in to authorities over an arrest warrant that was issued in January for violation of a protection order stemming from a 2022 domestic violence case.

Kevin Porter Jr. is facing charges of second-degree strangulation and third-degree assault stemming from an alleged domestic violence incident that occurred at a New York hotel with ex-girlfriend and former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.