David Stern
David Stern was born on September 22, 1942, in New York City, a place he would remain connected to throughout his life. He attended Teaneck High School before going on to study at Rutgers University, and later completed his legal education at Columbia Law School. His formation in the civic and intellectual culture of the American Northeast laid the groundwork for a career that would span law, business, and beyond.
Stern worked as a lawyer and jurist, and also pursued roles as a screenwriter and entrepreneur, occupying an unusually broad professional range. His work drew recognition across several domains: he received the Silver Olympic Order, was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame, and was honored with the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame award. The Commander of the Order for Merits to Lithuania further reflected the international scope of his activities.
Stern died on January 1, 2020, in Manhattan — the borough that had anchored his life from its beginning. He was seventy-seven years old.
Quotes by David Stern
David Stern's insights on:
We have a broad array of teams. And if somebody asked me whether a team is a good buy, my response is, 'You'd better hurry up, they're going like hot cakes, and they're going to be even more valuable when we get a system that is even more sustainable.'
With every day that goes by, there will be further reductions on what’s left of the season.
Our officials want nothing more than to be at the top of their professional game and make the correct call. That’s what they do; that’s their living, that’s their pride, that’s their joy. They don’t achieve that because they happen to be human.
I would say the referees have the toughest game to call. I would say that there’s a lot of officiating done by announcers, local announcers. Sometimes you should listen to a game from both feeds, and you’d think you were listening to completely different games.
I would say the league is viable as long as you have owners who want to continue funding losses. But it’s not on the long term a sustainable business model that we’re happy to be supporting. It needs to be reset.
Smart drafting is a wonderful thing. A smart free-agent signing is a wonderful thing. Smart trades are a wonderful thing, and that’s a function of management.
