David Stern
David Stern
David Joel Stern is the former commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984, succeeding Larry O'Brien. He is credited with increasing the popularity of the NBA in the 1990s and 2000s...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusiness Executive
Date of Birth22 September 1942
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I'm not big on looking back beyond the moment in which decisions and events occur. I'm always pushing forward.
I'm working hard to see whether there can be basketball next year.
We have a broad array of teams. And if somebody asked me whether a team is a good buy, my response is, Youd better hurry up, theyre going like hot cakes, and theyre going to be even more valuable when we get a system that is even more sustainable.
I would say the referees have the toughest game to call. I would say that there's a lot of officiating done by announcers, local announcers. Sometimes you should listen to a game from both feeds, and you'd think you were listening to completely different games.
Smart drafting is a wonderful thing. A smart free-agent signing is a wonderful thing. Smart trades are a wonderful thing, and that's a function of management.
Free speech is against governments, not against the NBA. So the players and coaches and indeed owners have been fined for their speech, which is costly rather than free. I sort of acknowledge that there is not free speech when you agree to work in the NBA.
I would say the league is viable as long as you have owners who want to continue funding losses. But it's not on the long term a sustainable business model that we're happy to be supporting. It needs to be reset.
I think it's... I don't want to become a social crusader on this issue, but I think sports, male sports, has traditionally not been an inviting environment for gay men to identify themselves. But eventually... we will get to a place where it is not an issue in sports.
It`s not the NBA Finals, it's not even a regular-season game. It's the All-Star game, it's a celebration. A celebration of talent, speed, grace. Let`s put it on display and have some fun.
Since the NBA purchased the New Orleans Hornets, final responsibility for significant management decisions lies with the Commissioner's Office in consultation with team chairman Jac Sperling. All decisions are made on the basis of what is in the best interests of the Hornets. In the case of the trade proposal that was made to the Hornets for Chris Paul, we decided, free from the influence of other NBA owners, that the team was better served with Chris in a Hornets uniform than by the outcome of the terms of that trade.
We're just changing the definition of the uniform that you wear when you are on NBA business,
We have the assets, the resources, the marketing and business operations to make this work. This is what we're geared to do.
We have a minimum standard that we've set that reflects on the professionals in our sport, and you're going to do it, ... We're certain that it will be complied with.
Unfortunately, the arena owners have not offered any constructive response to these efforts and recently advised us that they are satisfied with the status quo. Accordingly, we have advised both parties that we have withdrawn from the process.