David Stern was the NBA Commissioner in charge before Adam Silver. Considering that Silver came into power in 2014, almost a decade ago, fans might not know much about the former commissioner and the various conspiracies that surrounded him.
While plenty of conspiracies are usually just empty smoke, many of them against David Stern also seem to have a certain amount of merit. In order to understand why these were controversies, we need to take a look at some of the decisions he made and what people felt about them.
David Stern was accused of fixing games to improve NBA ratings
This is perhaps the biggest blemish on the name of the former commissioner. He has been accused of fixing games in order to increase ratings and generate revenue. Moreover, these were pivotal matches in the NBA Finals, not just any random regular season game. There was a lot of criticism against him for also turning a blind eye to others engaged in similar practices.
Game 6 of the 1984 NBA Finals was a clear indicator of “funny business.” Stern released a statement at the time indicating that the league could definitely use the revenue from a Game 7. This was enough for some to claim that he had a role in the biased officiating during Game 6.
Stern created a dress code that NBA players were forced to adhere to
Veteran NBA fans will remember that this began during the time of Allen Iverson. David Stern simply didn’t like the unprofessional clothes that players were wearing. As a result, he sent out a dress code edict back in October 2005.
The dress code mandated that players wear proper clothes with shoes and socks included. Additionally, it also restricted the wearing of headgear, sunglasses, headphones, shorts, and sleeveless shirts when the player was sitting with the team.
As some of us could have guessed, the players didn’t like this much and were annoyed by the notion of a dress code in professional sports. This would make sense considering that they wear franchise jerseys anyways. In any case, despite the protest, the dress code rule stuck and has been followed to an extent.
The former NBA commissioner disbanded the Seattle Supersonics and seemed owner oriented
Some of us might remember an NBA team called the Seattle Supersonics. After all, it is the same franchise that drafted NBA superstar Kevin Durant. Back in the day, the NBA was struggling to generate revenue. David Stern was extremely financially oriented and did everything possible to make the league profitable.
This came down to deciding that there is not enough interest in basketball in Seattle. He was already pressuring the people and state to fund a new arena and equipment for the team. However, the owners and people simply did not have the money.
Therefore, all they could do is watch as the Supersonics’ ownership exchanged hands and became the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that all of us are familiar with today. Fans who remember the Sonics of the old, heavily criticize David Stern for this decision.
Stern increased the age cut-off for young players to join the NBA
As already mentioned, one of the biggest attacks against the Commissioner was his indifference toward the people and players. This clearly results in a bias and a partiality towards business and ownership. As opposed to the overall league’s best interests.
David Stern decided to increase the minimum age for a player to become eligible for the NBA draft from 18-19. He did so under the pretext of wanting young athletes to enjoy the college experience and prepare for the challenges of the NBA.
However, critics pointed out that he had a hidden agenda in all of this. The former NBA commissioner simply didn’t want to risk financially investing in young athletes before they have “fully grown”. After all, signing a player to a contract, only to have him underperform or injured, was not in the financial interests of the league.
There was a significant amount of protest and indignation towards the new rule of 19. In fact, even Shaquille O’Neal voiced his crude opinion on the matter.
“As a black guy, you kind of think [race is] the reason why it’s coming up. You don’t hear about it in baseball or hockey. To say you have to be 20, 21 to get in the league, it’s unconstitutional. If I can go to the U.S. Army and fight the war at 18, why can’t you play basketball for 48 minutes and then go home? … In the last two or three years, the Rookie of the Year has been a high school player.”
These valid points fell on deaf ears and the NBA commissioner did not rescind this rule despite multiple other players and young prospects protesting the new age limit.
The decision to Veto Chris Paul’s trade to the Los Angeles Lakers
We simply cannot think of a time that something like this happened. Chris Paul was drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans formerly known as the Hornets. A few years later, he was looking to take his talents to another team. The Los Angeles Lakers were clearly interested in the young star. After all, that would mean pairing him up with Kobe Bryant.
As this deal was being finalized, news broke out and NBA fans thought it was a done deal. However, David Stern intervened and squashed this deal effectively vetoing the trade. The only reason he was able to do so was that the league had collectively bought the New Orleans Hornets from a financially unstable owner. This allowed Stern to assume that the NBA had the power to stop this trade.
“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.”
Fans were downright outraged at this decision. After all, “we” is primarily referring to himself, especially if he was unwilling to be influenced by the other NBA owners. There are other cases against him like the 1985 NBA lottery, In any case, David Stern also did a lot of good for the league. Perhaps we should simply take the good with the bad and accept it.