Commissioner David Stern: Should We Call for His Resignation?

Friday should’ve been a day to celebrate the players and owners officially approving the collective bargaining agreement.

We should be experiencing the beginning of a chaotic, frantic, yet amusing free-agent period. David Stern said that Friday, and the season for that matter, was going to be one characterized by “a new beginning.” 

Oh, how wrong he could be. 

Just when we thought the NBA and its fans were in the process of recovering from the grueling five-plus months of the lockout, Stern took another shot at the basketball world by blocking the three-way trade featuring the Lakers, Hornets and Rockets that would’ve landed Chris Paul in Los Angeles. 

I’m sure that by now everyone has familiarized themselves with the details of the Chris Paul debacle, including complaints from Dan Gilbert and Mark Cuban, and the ensuing outrage of fans and media personnel, so I won’t bore you with those monotonous details. 

I want to instead address Commissioner Stern’s inconsistencies and flaws, and explain why we should call for his resignation and put an end to his tyrannical rule over the league. 

There have been four NBA lockouts during Stern’s reign—the only four in NBA history.

Now, although only two of the work stoppages persisted long enough to cause shortened NBA seasons, Stern’s pride and hunger for power are indefensible and undeniably evident.

He has made repeated attempts to restructure and contour the NBA’s economic landscape to his liking, rather than making a concerted effort to do what’s best for the league as a whole. 

When considering the amount of games and publicity that the league has missed out on as a result of both the 1998-1999 and 2011 lockouts, it’s safe to conclude that he has cost the league both millions of dollars in revenue, as well as fans.

Greed and arrogance—two qualities that Stern exudes and embodies—proved to be resounding themes in the most recent lockout.  

To make matters worse, just when we thought all the league’s wounds were beginning to heal, Stern makes yet another horrible decision by blocking the Hornets’ trade of Chris Paul for “basketball reasons.” 

When did the league resume responsibilities for allowing and vetoing each and every franchise’s transactions? 

Now I understand that Stern’s primary objective during the lockout was to promote more equality and competition throughout the league, and that this trade would completely undermine that which was fought so hard for, but there is absolutely no comprehensible and logical reason to veto this trade.

There is no regulation or standard in place that this trade would have violated, and there was no team that would have “won,” or received a noteworthy advantage.

Stern blocked this trade both to set a precedent, and to protect his image and reputation; it was not in the best interest of the league, as hard as he tried to portray it in that fashion.  

Never in the history of the league, or in any sport for that matter, have we seen an event “met with such derision” and opposition, as Bill Simmons stated on SportsCenter. 

This opposition is a collective representation of the league and its fans’ dismay with the league that has been intensifying over the past five-plus months. 

If Stern is in fact in charge of the league, then he should be held accountable for its unpredictability and repeated faltering. 

Just like a child is the product of a parent’s influences, values and cultivation, the NBA has become a representation of Stern’s self-interested, greedy and arrogant antics. 

The time has come for his impeachment and removal from the commissioner’s throne atop the basketball kingdom.