The NBA world was rocked on New Year’s Day when the league lost a very influential man in the success of the NBA in former commissioner David Stern.
Stern passed away after a battle with a brain hemorrhage for which he has been hospitalized since December 17. He was 77-years old and he was the commissioner of the league for 30 years from 1984 to 2014 and he helped the league get bigger on a global scale.
Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons hails from Australia where basketball is not the country’s first sport. He tweeted out a thank you to Stern for making the game global and one must wonder that if Stern did not do what he did for the game, then maybe he isn’t playing basketball right now.
RIP David Stern, a trail blazer in making the NBA truly a global sport. We can’t thank you enough. Condolences to the Stern Family 🙏🏽
— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25) January 1, 2020
The Sixers organization also released their own statement as Stern helped mentor a lot of young executives in the league. Philadelphia cited that some of those people in the Harris & Blitzer organization right now.
The #Sixers have released a statement on the passing of former NBA commissioner David Stern pic.twitter.com/M2E3HDAfzr
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) January 1, 2020
The NBA truly lost a giant in the history of the game. We here at Sixers Wire offer our serious condolences to his family in this tough time. [lawrence-related id=22521,22512,22504]