Former NBA president David Stern died of illness at the age of 77.
Stern took over as president of the NBA in 1984, successfully making the NBA the most influential league in the world, and thus becoming the most outstanding president of a sports league in history.
1: Introduce a modern salary cap system, so that players become the real masters of the NBA, and the income is closely linked to the league. The negative result was four suspensions during Stern's tenure: in 1995, 1996, 1998 and 2011, the first two suspensions did not affect the game, but the last two caused the regular season to shrink to 50 and 66.
2: NBA expansion. During Stern's tenure, the NBA expanded from 23 to 30, joining the NBA in 1988 with the Heat and Hornets, and the Magic and Timberwolves in 1989.
3: Globalization. Under Stern's rule, the NBA officially began to globalize, and has set up NBA offices in Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Beijing, Mumbai, London and other international cities. In 1992, he promoted the Dream Team to the world and set off an NBA storm at the Olympic Games. The success of globalization has led to a skyrocket in NBA revenues, and when Stern took office in 1984, the league's annual revenue was $165 million, and the average player income was $290,000. When Stern retired in 2013, league revenue rose to $5.5 billion, with players earning an average of $5.7 million.
4: Lotto draft. Stern began reforming the draft system in his second year in office, and in order to prevent spoilage, Stern established a lottery lottery system, and then reduced the draft to two rounds. But in 1985, the Knicks won the lottery, and the "envelope" doubt (the envelope was creased) lingered for 30 years.
5: There were many crises during Stern's tenure: in 1986, The Eye Lun-Baias died of a sudden overdose of cocaine only a few days after being selected by the Celtics; in 1991, the magician declared himself HIV-positive, shocking the world! At the time, such a diagnosis was almost equivalent to a death sentence. In 2004, there was a clash between players and fans at Auburn Hill Palace, and Artest and many other players were banned extensively. In 2007, a gambling scandal involved Tim Donassi in jail and the NBA's reputation suffered severely.
6: Out of the trough. The NBA had a steady stream of drug use in the '70s. In the 80s, the black and white duo, Michael Jordan, came out, and Stern successfully led the NBA out of negative influences.