Tear down any monuments, lately? Spray-paint any statues?

How can one learn history when it’s no longer taught? How does one learn from history when it has been eliminated?

Adam Silver last week continued his path of providing evidence that he’s more a populist than a firm-gripped commissioner, more of a pandering public relations man than a real-deal guardian, one who protects the NBA on the basis of choosing right over wrong — the way, oh, Maurice Podoloff did.

Last week, the NBA announced it has “rebranded” its MVP award from the Maurice Podoloff Trophy to the Michael Jordan Trophy.

While that doesn’t rise (or sink) to the level of beheading a Christopher Columbus statue or vandalizing one of Abraham Lincoln, the demotion and eventual elimination of Podoloff as a significant NBA figure and founder nonetheless stinks.

In addition to that stench, is this: The fellow who designed the NBA’s new MVP trophy in Jordan’s honor also works for Nike’s Jordan Brand, so it also smells like an inside job.

Podoloff, according to the Basketball Hall of Fame, “was a man of impeccable character, instrumental in the development and success of the NBA. On June 6, 1946, Podoloff was appointed commissioner of the newly formed Basketball Association of America.”

As if that weren’t enough to sustain Podoloff’s legacy and memory on Silver’s watch, he was — you should excuse the nearly discarded Pollyanna expression — living proof of the American Dream.

Fleeing murderous pogroms in Russia, Podoloff’s Jewish family emigrated to New Haven, Conn. — where Podoloff, in his early teens, learned English and in 1915 earned his law degree from Yale. Along the way to establishing the NBA, he served as commissioner of the American Hockey League, thus a chosen leader of two sports at one time while also serving as a distinguished attorney.

It was Podoloff who negotiated the 1949 merger with his league, and the National Basketball League to create the NBA.

During his 17 years as BAA and NBA president, he expanded the league, negotiated its first TV contracts, helped introduce the 24-second clock to liven the pace and action of games and banned those convicted in college point-saving scandals from ever playing in the NBA.

Podoloff was the NBA’s commissioner until 1963 and died in 1985.

Podoloff, we read in the Basketball Hall of Fame’s NBA history, “was fair to all teams and owners, regardless of their power. Through his foresight, wisdom and leadership, he advanced fan interest and improved the overall welfare of the NBA.”

And this week he was fired — let go — by the NBA, his one lasting annual public connection to the NBA removed. There was no better way to remember him than to remember him. But he has been erased.

It Takes All of Us” continued: Deebo Samuel, star 49ers receiver, is just another demonstrably self-interested act who makes it more difficult to watch, let alone enjoy, NFL games.

Last Sunday on Fox, he scored a touchdown after taking a pitch and running inside the right pylon. As he was tackled, too late, he undercut a photographer at his knees, sending the man sprawling. With play stopped, Samuel could have — should have — checked with that photog to indicate that he at least cared if he was OK.

Instead, Samuel returned to the field by arrogantly and callously stepping over the fallen man, never even looking down toward him as he didn’t want to delay his self-smitten TD celebration. Couldn’t miss it.

Announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen pretended that they didn’t see it, thus we must’ve missed it, too. They just kept tossing bouquets at Samuel.

Soon, Samuel would be carted from the field with, as fate would have it, knee and ankle injuries.

Staying with Buccaneers-49ers, a 68-yard TD pass, Tom Brady to Mike Evans, was called back on a holding call by left tackle Donovan Smith. On Fox, Burkhardt said, “Wow, it takes away a 68-yard touchdown!”

And that’s a commonly misapplied cause-and-effect take. As replays clearly showed, Smith’s holding violation was committed as Brady prepared to throw, inches from being blindside sacked, thus the holding call didn’t cost the Bucs a TD, it allowed a TD that was called back.

There are holding calls, then there are holding calls.

Monday night, another Roger Goodell “It’s All About Our Fans” special — Rams at Packers. The weather forecast is for a daytime high of 22 degrees, a nighttime low of 12.

As a reader once wrote about Goodell before a made-for-TV-money night game in bitterly cold Green Bay: “If he left his dog out on a night like that he’d be arrested.”

Alex Yannis, one the calmer members of the crazy Pele/Chinaglia Era late 1970s New York Cosmos press corps and traveling international circus of scoundrels, died Wednesday at 85.

Yannis, as were the rest of us, was a character, only he often didn’t know it. When he was with the N.Y. Times, we shared year-round beats — the Cosmos and NBA Piscataway Nets.

Born and raised in Greece, as evidenced by his accent, Yannis was far better versed in soccer than basketball. He once caused Nets forward Wilson Washington confusion when he asked him, “Are you match fit?”

And he once brought me a piece of baklava, which remains my favorite dessert. Rest in peace, philos.

Still curious to know how much due diligence Rob Manfred and crew did before accepting big dough to promote the FTX scam with conspicuously displayed patches on the uniforms of MLB umpires. What did MLB see in smoke-in-a-crypto-bucket FTX that it was a credible investment for fans?

Or did Manfred just sell MLB’s licensing for FTX’s exploitation at fans financial peril, no good questions asked?

Had to be the latter, no?

In her expressions of gratitude for arriving “home,” Brittney Griner continues to skirt or intentionally miss the mark.

She has not yet thanked her country for securing her release from a nine-year sentence in a Russian labor gulag, for not leaving her to rot despite her pre-arrest expressions and demonstrations of her disaffection for the United States.

She has not yet acknowledged that her “home” to which she has been gratefully returned, is also the home of the free.

Curt Simmons — 20-year big league pitcher, mostly with the Phillies and Cardinals — died last week at 93. As kids, we knew Simmons’ baseball card photos as the man with the 6 o’clock shadow. One season’s edition, if we looked closely enough, we could see his beard grow.

NHL Network’s studio shows, especially with Stu Grimson and former Rangers goalie Kevin Weekes in shows-and-tells, remain, as commercials for toys used to boast, “fun and educational!”

Golfers to golfers: “What did you shoot?” Golf media to golfers: “What did you card?”

Anyway, as you watch Sunday, don’t forget to stay ahead of the chains! (Whatever that means.)