David Stern

David Joel Stern September 22 1942 January 1 2020 was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association NBA from 1984 to 2014 and oversaw NBA basketballs growth into one of the worlds most popular sports during the 1990s and 2000s He is credited with developing and broadening the NBAs audience especially internationally by setting up training camps playing exhibition games and recruiting more international players In addition with Sterns guidance the NBA opened 12 offices in cities outside the United States and broadcast to over 200 territories in over 40 languages Stern also helped found the Womens National Basketball Association and the NBA G League the NBAs development league Under Stern the NBA launched their digital presence with NBAcom NBA TV and NBA League Pass He also established the NBAs social responsibility program NBA Cares Description above from the Wikipedia article David Stern licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia