Top 17 David Stern Quotes

I’m not into politics.

Everyone knows that if you can keep on making money, everyone‘s happy.

We couldn’t get enough Jeremy Lin material in the NBA store fast enough. And when we did, it was just gone in minutes.

Our officials want nothing more than to be at the top of their professional game and make the correct call. That’s what they do; that’s their living, that’s their pride, that’s their joy. They don’t achieve that because they happen to be human.

It was the Michael Jordan/Nike phenomenon that really let people see that athletes were OK, and black athletes were OK. Defying a previous wisdom – not only that black athletes wouldn’t sell in white America, but that the NBA as a predominantly black sport could not sell in white America.

I’m not big on looking back beyond the moment in which decisions and events occur. I’m always pushing forward.

I believe that everyone should participate in democracy and enjoy doing it.

You walk into the playgrounds in Shanghai and Beijing, and you see youngsters who are shorter, shaking and baking and having attitude. And Jeremy Lin is going to inspire all of them.

I’ve never found NBA owners to be deferential. I never considered them to be reliant. All that I do is knock myself out to represent their interests the best way I can and sometimes tell them, as part of my job, what they don’t like to hear.

By nature, I’m a person who always says that whatever I’ve done, I could’ve done better. But I don’t dwell on it because I’m waiting for the next time something happens and try to believe that my past experience will have helped to educate me in terms of how I deal with future ones.

Smart drafting is a wonderful thing. A smart free-agent signing is a wonderful thing. Smart trades are a wonderful thing, and that’s a function of management.

I grew up in an age where women‘s tennis did not have similar prizes to men, and they played in complete obscurity, really, compared to the men’s game.

I think anyone who doesn’t say that they’d like people to think that they’re doing the right thing is wrong. I mean, I’d like it to be that way, but I’ve never allowed it to influence my actions.

I’m aware that the World Cup is probably the greatest spectacle in the world of sport, and that’s despite the referees that have been found to have fixed games specifically.

We need a system where all of our teams have the opportunity to compete and to make a few dollars. That’s not a bad desire for collective bargaining for a sports league, and it’s great for our fans.

I’m persuaded that sports is the one place where the rules are pretty well set out, where fans are equal. And if you got game or you’re a good official, you make it here, whether you’re white or you’re black.

I think that players play, and they compete, and it’s not about incentives.