In an interview with The Athletic, Jim Quinn, one of America’s sports attorneys, who had many, sometimes combative, interactions with Stern during the course of both of their careers, credits Stern with this powerful insight: “He saw before anybody that promoting superstars was good for the game. Just the fact you can recognize superstars by their first names proves the point.” Quinn adds that Stern’s player recognition strategy “was critical to the success of the league after he became commissioner.”