BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 11: (CHINA OUT) NBA Commissioner David Stern attends a press conference at the Wukesong Arena on October 11, 2009 in Beijing, China. The press conference was held before an NBA preseason exhibition game between the Denver Nuggets and the Indiana Pacers. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)
On December. 12, former NBA commissioner David Stern suffered a brain hemorrhage and had to undergo emergency surgery. Three weeks later—on the first day of 2020—he passed away in Manhattan at the age of 77.
Renowned for his vision, one-of-a-kind sense of sarcastic humor, and tough-love leadership, Stern received tributes from many of the game’s biggest names, including Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant.
Current league commissioner Adam Silver, who worked closely with Stern before succeeding him at the top post, sang Stern’s praises.
“For 22 years, I had a courtside seat to watch David in action,” Silver said. “He was a mentor and one of my dearest friends. We spent countless hours in the office, at arenas and on planes wherever the game would take us. Like every NBA legend, David had extraordinary talents, but with him it was always about the fundamentals—preparation, attention to detail, and hard work.”
Much of basketball’s ascension can be attributed to Stern.
“When I got to the NBA in 1984, which was commissioner’s first year, the average salary was $250,000. It’s almost $9 million now,” Charles Barkley recently said. “And he is largely responsible for that.”
Indeed, he managed to lead the league to a more than 30-fold increase in revenue, narrating how that growth happened in a keynote speech for the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management at UMass just two months before his passing.
An attorney by training, Stern held the NBA’s top position longer than any commissioner in American Big 4 history. In his 77 years, Stern became one of the most impactful and universally respected figures in professional sports history. Here are seven of the most influential moments from the 2014 Naismith Hall of Famer’s storied career.
He Put NBA Players in the Olympics
It’s hard to imagine Olympic basketball without NBA stars—but that used to be the norm. The Games were designed for amateurs so before the ’90s, the U.S. had to settle for filling its roster with college players. But it was a well-known secret that other countries were actually using pro players. Stern wasn’t OK with that, and he pushed to get NBA stars into the Olympics.
After the U.S. had to settle for bronze at the ’88 Games, the rules were changed ahead of 1992. This leveled the playing field and allowed the U.S. to trot out its very best...AKA, a murderer’s row. That ’92 squad included names like Jordan, Barkley, Malone, Magic, and Ewing and took the world by storm. Stern in 2014 said that team was “feted like a combination of the Bolshoi, the Philharmonic and the Beatles.” Dubbed The Dream Team, these Monstars won by an average of 44 points, crushing the competition in Barcelona.
Since that Games, the U.S. has won all but one Olympic gold—in the 2004 Games in Athens, when the U.S. famously struggled en route to bronze. Stern’s efforts to get NBA players into the Games paid off for both the country and the league...
He Took the Game International
With a stronghold established in Asia, the NBA is now experiencing rapid growth in India. Basketball has boomed internationally, with the NBA in an enviable position among Big 4 leagues largely because Stern saw what others didn’t.
When he took over as commissioner, the league’s ratings were dwindling, with the NBA limping behind the NFL and MLB. Unfazed, the son of an NYC deli owner made it his mission to take the league where it had never been before. He was driven to eclipse the boundaries of the U.S. and grow the game by bringing in new fans.
In his first year at the helm, he got NBA highlights on Argentinian TV. Then he started shipping NBA footage on VHS tapes to China. During this exploratory period of the ’80s, the league began developing a grassroots fan base across the globe. And then, during the ’90s, Stern brought two franchises to Canada—the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies.
The NBA now airs in 215 countries and 50 languages. With youngsters around the world growing up with hoop dreams, this season marked the sixth straight year that at least 100 international players appeared on opening night rosters. So we can credit Stern for guys like Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He Expanded the League
The Raptors and Grizzlies weren’t the only teams introduced during Stern’s tenure. In fact, he oversaw the introduction of seven new franchises: the aforementioned two as well as the Hornets, Timberwolves, Heat, Bobcats, and Magic. Orlando’s team, for example, entered the fray as an expansion franchise in 1989 and quickly found success behind Shaq and Penny Hardaway. It’s hard to imagine the league today without these squads.
The NBA looked quite different from the beginning to end of Stern’s run in office—and that’s not just because of all the new teams. Some of the franchises that were in existence when he took over were the New Jersey Nets, Washington Bullets, Kansas City Kings, Seattle SuperSonics, and San Diego Clippers.
He Institued the One-and-Done Rule
There are a number of prep-to-pro success stories: LeBron, Kobe, Tracy McGrady, and Kevin Garnett. These guys flourished at the next level after forgoing college ball. But there were many other big-name high school prospects who didn't live up to the hype: Eddy Curry, Robert Swift, Sebastian Telfair, and Kwame Brown.
Given some of these failures, Stern advocated for creating an age minimum for NBA draft eligibility. Beginning with the 2006 draft, he instituted restrictions: players could not be selected straight out of high school, and they had to be at least 19.
“If these kids have the ability to get a little more maturity, a little more coaching, a little bit more life experience overall, that’s good,” Stern said in 2001.
This ushered in the era of ‘one-and-dones’—players who only spent one mandatory year in the NCAA before heading to the draft. Among those in this category: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and Zion Williamson.
This controversial rule may not be long for this world. His draft innovations didn’t stop here.
He Installed a Draft Lottery
The ping pong ball system, the one that decides which lucky teams will get the top lottery picks in the NBA draft, is a ritual now. But it’s yet another Stern innovation.
This system began coming to fruition in 1985. Before that, a coin had been flipped between the teams with the worst and second-worst records—yep, that’s the system that sent Magic to the Lakers and Kareem to the Bucks. Stern instituted the new lottery, which included the teams that didn’t make the playoffs, in place to counter accusations that teams were tanking for the worst record. (In particular, there were concerns that the Rockets had tanked to get Hakeem Olajuwon at No. 1 in 1984. But who could blame them?)
The Knicks won the first lottery under the revised system and obtained the right to pick Patrick Ewing from Georgetown. Multiple changes to the structure of the lottery have since been implemented—for example, in 2017 the league began giving the three worst teams equal odds at landing the No. 1 pick, but also increasing their odds of sliding to a lower pick. Further tinkering with a team's odds of landing the No. 1 occured last year. The lottery has turned into must-see TV.
He Welcomed Magic Back
The league’s fourth commissioner had a larger-than-life presence and demanding managerial style that were intimidating to some. Despite his tough spirit and passion for excellence, he was also known to have an inclusive heart.
Today when you watch the NBA, everything is centered around the stars. Fans know them on a first-name basis: LeBron, Giannis, Kyrie, etc. That innovation came from Stern; he knew the top players were the league’s greatest asset. So he focused the spotlight on them—from Magic and Bird, to M.J. and Barkley, to Kobe and Shaq. And in the process of building up these players’ star power and making them global icons, he formed stalwart relationships with many of them.
Stern’s emotional intelligence was on display after Magic Johnson announced he was HIV-positive before the 1991-92 season. There were many misconceptions about the disease at the time, and Magic announced his retirement upon learning he had contracted the disease. Some players—including Karl Malone—had no interest in sharing the court with him, fearing contamination. But Magic was voted as a starter for the 1992 All-Star Game—the fans wanted to see him play. Despite naysayers, Stern welcomed Magic to not only participate in that game, but then join the ’92 Dream Team as well.
David Stern was such a history maker. When I announced in 1991 I had HIV, people thought they could get the virus from shaking my hand. When David allowed me to play in the 1992 All Star Game in Orlando and then play for the Olympic Dream Team, we were able to change the world.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 1, 2020
He Established the WNBA
Make no mistake about it: many individuals, including the top female players, were responsible for the creation of the WNBA in 1996. But Stern is credited as its founder, and he was among the most influential figures in making this league come to fruition. Partnering with the league’s first commissioner, Val Ackerman (now commissioner of the Big East Conference), Stern championed women’s sports.
“He was the mastermind, and the WNBA was really in line with his vision about how sports and society are intertwined,” Ackerman said when Stern retired.
With Stern’s support, the NBA Board of Governors approved the WNBA in April 1996. Though there had been other pro women’s basketball leagues, this was the first one to receive the full support of the NBA—even its logo was designed to match the NBA’s. Because of Stern’s commitment, there was never any questioning the NBA’s investment in its sister league. Though the WNBA’s first season was far from prosperous—more was expected after Team USA had won the gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics—the commish steadfastly stood behind the league.
The WNBA now has a growing and passionate following. The NBA’s support, both financially and logistically, have been vital to the women’s league reaching its current level of success and inspiring generations of women basketball players.
He Introduced a Development League
Stern didn’t only help women who aspired to play professional basketball; he also helped men who dreamt of getting a shot in the NBA but weren’t quite good enough yet. He created the National Basketball Development League as a path to basketball's biggest stage.
Now the G League (it was known as the D League from 2005-2017), the outfit began with eight teams. Stern led both its creation and expansion into 15 teams as a robust farm system for the pros.
Today, there are 28 teams, and all of them are affiliated with an NBA team. With Gatorade as the title sponsor, an improved player compensation structure, and many success stories to boast, including Pascal Siakam and Jeremy Lin, the G League is going strong.
The NBA is too, of course—and the league and its fans, all of us who love the game of basketball, have David Stern to thank.