We all saw this day coming, but David Stern still represents a huge part of the NBA. It’ll be a shock to see him go. Yet we can put all of the speculations to rest: the NBA commissioner will announce late Thursday that he is retiring on Feb. 1, 2014, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein.
As expected, Adam Silver, Stern’s deputy commissioner, will take over from there after he was unanimously approved Thursday by the NBA Board of Governors. He’s already touting Stern, who’s been the commish since 1984, as the best commissioner of all time. Silver also believes the league has much more room to grow. He’s right – the opportunities worldwide are almost limitless.
Stern might have lost a bit of his mojo towards the end of his run, most specifically with the awful way the Chris Paul-to-the-Lakers trade was handled. But overall he was HUGE in growing the game to what we have today. Silver has some massive shoes to fill.
More than anything, we’re going to miss the NBA Draft. It just won’t be the same without the Godfather there to smirk and cackle his way through a chorus of first-round boos.
What do you think?
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