According to the words of the New York Observer, the NBA’s “annual television revenue was a mere $30 million; drug scandals dominated the headlines; the notion that the league could be a global enterprise was laughable; [and] it seemed more likely that the NBA might go the way of professional boxing or horse racing” (“David Stern’s Legacy”). In 1984, a young David Stern took the reigns and became the new commissioner of the National Basketball Association.
During his time as NBA commissioner, Stern did a lot to help the growth of the NBA and had a little bit of luck on his side. In Stern’s first draft, the 1984 class had five future Hall of Famers (Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, and Oscar Schmidt) and several All-Stars. However, one thing that is most noticeable from this draft was the number one overall pick was international (Olajuwon was from Nigeria); this can be considered a sign of what Stern envisioned for the growth of the NBA as a global product.
When Stern entered the league, there
was a major drug problem. In 1986, Stern
banned All-Star, Michael Ray Richardson for life after failing his third drug
test. This suspension sent a statement
to the rest of the league that Stern was to squash the drug issue. Unfortunately, there continued to be drug
issues around the league, which included the 1986 drug-related death of
potential superstar, Len Bias, and when Stern banned Chris Anderson in the
early 2000s for his drug use. Since
then, the NBA has done a great job of keeping drugs out of the league and
keeping players safe and healthy.
Another way Stern helped grow the
game was the implementation of the NBA Draft Lottery in 1985 in order to
prevent teams from losing on purpose in order to get the top overall pick in
the draft. Yet, there has been much
conspiracy to several of the lotteries, most notably in 1985 when the New York
Knicks won and drafted Patrick Ewing with the top pick. Stern is from New York and having one of the
most famous franchises win the first lottery seemed a bit fishy. In the 2003 draft, some say Stern would not
want LeBron James, the NBA’s next superstar, to be drafted by the Canadian-based
franchise, Toronto Raptors and fixed it so James’s hometown team, the Cleveland
Cavaliers would win. True or false, the
lottery system has prevented teams from ‘tanking’ in order to get the top draft
pick.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s
the NBA itself grew in popularity with likes of major players (Jordan, Magic,
Bird, etc.) and the 1992 Dream Team that won Olympic gold, and major television
deals, the league was working on diversifying itself. In 1996, Stern announced the creation of the
Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), a woman’s professional
basketball league. The WNBA began with
only eight teams but has since grown to a twelve-team league. On a popularity scale, the NBA is much higher
than the WNBA, but the sky is the limit for the young league.
In 2001, the NBA Developmental-League
(D-League) was created to serve as a minor league system for the NBA. Eight teams based in the Southeastern United
States made up the league of around 120 players. Since then, the league has more than doubled
in size and many teams own the rights to their own D-League franchise, allowing
teams to develop some of their young talent.
Since 1984, there have only been three
international players drafted number one:
Yao Ming in 2002, Andrew Bogut in 2005, and Andrea Bargnani in 2006. However, Yao showed off the global impact
left by basketball. Throughout the
world, the most popular sport is soccer and has been that way for decades, even
centuries! There happens to be an
exception: China. In China, there is a plethora of NBA fans and
basketball fans, in general. Many fans
wear jerseys from many different teams, but Yao is by far the face of Chinese
basketball. At 7’6’’, he was one of the
tallest to play the game. During his
eight-year career in the NBA, Yao put up very good numbers and was an all star
eight times and is noted as one of the better, more popular international
players to play in the NBA. Since Yao
was drafted, teams have been focusing more and more on international talent.
Around the globe, basketball has
grown significantly in popularity. The
Euroleague is one of the strongest worldwide and has produced many talents from
the likes of Bargnani, Ricky Rubio, Tony Parker, and Pao Gasol. In Spain, after soccer, basketball is the
most popular sport and the fans embrace their basketball players and have large
arenas for their teams.
To put everything full circle, the first and last players Stern announced during the NBA draft were both international (Olajuwon in 1984 from Nigeria and Namanja Nedovic is from Serbia). This has put a stamp on Stern’s tenure as commissioner: globalizing the sport of basketball.
Through all of the critics, I would like to say, Thank you, Mr. Stern for the new dress code; thank you, Mr. Stern for keeping the NBA in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; thank you, Mr. Stern for expanding instant replay to avoid major errors; thank you, Mr. Stern for sticking through during all of the lock-outs; thank you, Mr. Stern for everything you have done for the growth of the game of basketball. You will surely be missed.
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Micah Sokolsky is a Pre-Junior Sport Management major at Drexel University with minors in Spanish and Business. Micah hails from San Francisco, CA and was a participant on Drexel Sport Management’s College Sport Research Institute (CSRI) team last year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2013. Micah completed his first co-op with the Camden Riversharks minor league baseball team in their Marketing and Promotions department. A member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, Micah is involved on campus as the Athletics Chairman for the Inter-Fraternity Council and as a Resident Assistant in Race Hall. Connect with Micah on LinkedIn.
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