David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020)[1] was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014.

[3] In addition, with Stern's guidance the NBA opened 12 offices in cities outside the United States, and broadcast to over 200 territories in over 40 languages.

After 30 years, Stern retired in 2014 as the longest-tenured commissioner in the history of major North American sports leagues (though his record has since been broken).

[9] Stern grew up a New York Knicks fan, considered Carl Braun his hero,[11] and attended games at Madison Square Garden with his father.

[9] He played basketball briefly in adulthood before sustaining a serious right knee injury during a New York Lawyers League game.

[17] During this time, Stern largely drove two landmark agreements with the NBA Players' Association: drug testing and team salary cap.

[9] Instead of marketing the league's teams, he changed the focus to its star players, such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley from the 1984 NBA draft, which was held soon after Stern took office.

With him came his flair and talent for the game, and that brought in shoe contracts from Nike which helped to give the league even more national attention.

[22] In 1987, he started the shipping of VHS tapes from his New York office to China's state-run television station to expand the league's reach beyond North America.

[9][24] Having read medical literature and consulted experts, Stern helped inform league owners, players, sponsors and the public about the virus.

[9] During Stern's tenure, a total of seven new franchises (the Hornets, Timberwolves, Heat, Magic, Grizzlies, Raptors, and Bobcats) were admitted to the NBA, bringing the number of teams in the league to 30 by 2004.

[28] Before the 2005–06 season, the NBA announced a new dress code, which banned players from wearing headphones, chains, shorts, sleeveless shirts, indoor sunglasses, T-shirts, jerseys and headgear such as baseball caps during NBA-related public appearances.

[31] Starting with the 2006 NBA draft, players could no longer be selected straight out of high school and needed to be at least 19 years old,[32] creating the one-and-done rule.

[40] In 2007, Stern injected himself in the controversy surrounding the purchase and subsequent relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics by Oklahoman Clay Bennett and his ownership group.

[42][31] During the 2011 lockout, he was accused by HBO commentator Bryant Gumbel of being "some kind of modern-day plantation overseer",[9][31] a reference to the division between the NBA's primarily white owners and its predominantly black players.

[31] On December 8, 2011, Stern vetoed a three-team trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers, Lamar Odom to the league-owned Hornets, and Pau Gasol to the Rockets for what a spokesman would only say were "basketball reasons".

[43] Early reactions from around the league, fanbase, and media were all largely negative, with players taking to Twitter to express their concerns, and several noted sports journalists criticizing the decision.

[54] Several basketball legends and players mourned his death, including LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant (who died twenty-five days later).