After the vetoed blockbuster trade which was supposed to send Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers from the NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets, NBA Commissioner David Stern was public enemy number one in L.A., and around the entire league for that matter.
Even though Chris Paul eventually ended up in Los Angeles with the Clippers and quickly turned them into a potential NBA title contender, the vetoed trade devastated the Lakers, with Lamar Odom demanding a trade shortly thereafter and Pau Gasol nervous about being on the trading block ever since.
Fortunately, the Lakers have bounced back from the failed trade fiasco to begin the season and are back on track with a 23-14 overall record while currently sitting in three spot in the Western Conference. So despite missing out on the elite point guard they have been looking for over the past few years, the Lake Show has recovered and could still be a force to be reckoned with in the West come playoff time.
NBA Commissioner David Stern, on the other hand, hasn’t been able to rebound as quickly as he is still not the most popular commissioner in professional sports after the drawn out NBA lockout and the vetoed blockbuster trade that many disagreed with.
However, NBA fans will not have to deal with Stern much longer as the end is drawing near.
According to Royce Young of CBSSports.com, David Stern could call it quits after two more seasons as the NBA commissioner:
Insiders say that David Stern is planning to tell NBA owners at their April Board of Governors meeting that he’s good for two more seasons, and that he’ll step down as commissioner then. “At one point, he had talked about doing it for one more season, but it looks now like two more,” said a league source. League suits say there probably won’t even be a search conducted to find a successor and that deputy commissioner Adam Silver is a lock to succeed Stern, with one source saying Stern’s lieutenant has the backing of almost 90% of the owners. All he needs is a simple majority.
After the nightmare of a second NBA lockout and the debate over “basketball reasons” for why the Chris Paul trade to the Los Angeles Lakers was vetoed, David Stern has had enough and many NBA fans would love to see him go.
David Stern has been the head honcho in the NBA for 27 years now after taking over for Larry O’Brien back in 1984. Even though Stern has left a bad taste in many people’s mouths recently, it would be hard to argue that he hasn’t been one of the best commissioners in professional sports during his time in the NBA.
