When NBA fans remember the late David Stern , they often think first of how he cleaned up the league’s image. Years of drug stories and off-court scandals had left a mark. He was appointed league commissioner in 1984 and handled that shift well, especially since it laid the groundwork for everything that followed.
Mark Eaton saw those changes unfold up close. In a 2021 Q&A, he reflected that Stern transformed a niche sport into a global brand now reaching over 200 countries. From Eaton’s perspective, it has since evolved into a fully realized product. Digital distribution and the broader infrastructure now drive everything, making it, in his words, “an amazing machine.”
“And that’s all because of the vision of David Stern,” emphasized the Utah Jazz legend, who passed away in May 2021.
People often call Stern “ the NBA’s businessman .” Many say he grew the league like no one else .
But it wasn’t easy.
Stern started with a fragmented league. Teams like the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs cut their own deals. There was no sense of a shared identity.
That patchwork kept revenue hovering around $100 million a year. It also limited the league’s reach beyond its core audience. Eaton, drafted in 1982, saw it up close while finding his footing with the Jazz .
Fortunately, a shift was coming. The former 7’2’’ center pointed to the exact moment it happened. Eaton said it came when Stern pulled those scattered efforts under league control, even with owners pushing back to protect their independence.
“He (Stern) brought all that in house. He said, ‘No, we’re going to be one brand.’ And he said, ‘If we can create one brand, all of you, individual cities will be stronger over time.’”
That shift, as Eaton saw it, turned a loose collection of teams into something far more unified and set the stage for growth. Lo and behold, franchise values climbed from around $10 million for the teams the one-time All-Star once played against to modern squads now valued at billions of dollars.
Behind it, Eaton said, was something personal. Stern approached the league as if it were his own family. Protective by nature. It meant he was always going to “defend” the NBA brand he had largely built himself.
That same approach carried through when it mattered, which Eaton found “most remarkable.” Even with owners pushing back, Stern protected the league’s shared interests while really fighting back. It helped him add seven expansion teams and launch initiatives such as the WNBA and NBA Cares, widening the league’s reach.
His collectivism did not stop with marketing. Stern used that single-brand approach to secure major TV deals and expand the NBA overseas. Darren Rovell later called it “genius” in a 2012 ESPN profile .
Robert Litan noted that this strategy helped drive league revenue past $5 billion. That was the landscape when Adam Silver became the new commissioner in 2014.
For Eaton, Stern laid the foundation for it all. If there is still any doubt, the two-time DPOY pointed to the result and said to just “look what he created.” If you do that, you will see that NBA teams are now unified giants, miles apart from the earlier generations of the league — something the late commissioner definitely had a major hand in.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on May 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
