Sports Illustrated is recognizing David Stern’s 25th anniversary as NBA commissioner this week. Jack McCallum, Ian Thompson, and Steve Aschburner have written stories to commemorate the occasion.
Here’s an excerpt from Ian Thomsen’s article:
The long-term outlook for the NBA is much stronger than it would appear within North America, where it remains mired as the No. 3 pro league behind the NFL and MLB. But neither of those rivals has the skeletal makings of the NBA’s framework stretching to all corners of the world, and in the next era of TV-via-internet — creating a global audience that is truly interconnected — the NBA will be positioned to grow like no other sports association in our country. Basketball is already the No. 2 team sport of the world (trailing behind soccer), and in these early days of globalization, NBA-based stars like Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki and Yao Ming are among the most popular athletes in their home countries.
Stern won’t be commissioner when the NBA realizes the profit from his investments. But the short-term benefits have themselves been worthwhile. It is with thanks to Stern that basketball in Argentina, Spain and other nations has so improved that USA Basketball needed to overhaul its own selection and training processes in order to keep up. His Basketball Without Borders initiative has dispatched more than 300 NBA players abroad to work with more than 1,300 young players from at least 100 countries and territories. Stern is responsible for opening an international pipeline that runs in both directions: The current infusion of 75 international players from 32 foreign nations has forced the foundation nation of basketball to acknowledge that the fundamentals really do matter, while also creating new pools of talent while the NBA has expanded by seven franchises over the last two decades.
The Tim Donaghy situation, the Supersonics’ depature from Seattle and the lockout are dark spots on Stern’s resume. But Stern will be remembered fondly. Naismith invented the game. Stern will go down as the man most responsible for its globalization.
