Former NBA Commissioner David Stern dies at 77

FormerNational Basketball AssociationCommissionerDavidStern, who oversaw explosive growth in the popularity of the game during his 30-year tenure, died on Wednesday at the age of77, theleaguesaid.

Stern, the NBA's longest-servingcommissionerbefore being succeeded by Adam Silver on February 1, 2014, had been in serious condition after emergency surgery on December12 in New York following a sudden brain haemorrhage.

"Every member of the NBA family is the beneficiary of David’s vision, generosity and inspiration," Silver, who worked withSternfor 22 years, said in a statement.

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"Because of David, the NBA is a trulyglobalbrand."

UnderStern, the NBA experienced extraordinary growth, with seven new franchises, including expansion to Canada in 1995,a more than 30-fold increase in revenue, a dramatic gain in national TV exposure and the launch of the Women's National Basketball Association and NBA DevelopmentLeague.

He also had a role in many other initiatives that helped shape theleague, including a drug policy, salary-cap system and dress code.

"Without DavidStern, the NBA would not be what it is today,"formerChicago Bulls superstar and current Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan said in a statement.

"He guided theleaguethrough turbulent times and grew theleagueinto an international phenomenon."

National FootballLeagueCommissionerRoger Goodell rememberedSternas "a driving force in sports for decades."

Stern's greatest accomplishment ascommissioneris widely considered to be the way he transformed the NBA, once largely an unknown commodity outside the United States, into aglobally televised powerhouse.

UnderStern's leadership, theleagueopened 13globalNBA offices and became in 1990 the first USprofessional sportsleagueto stage a regular-season game outside North America, when the Phoenix Suns played the Utah Jazz in Japan.

"DavidSternwas the most important non-player/non-coach who ever passed through the NBA and it’s not really close," Bill Simmons, broadcaster and author of "The Book of Basketball: The NBA," said on Twitter.

"DavidSternearned and deserved inclusion in our land of giants," the National Basketball Players Association added in a statement.

Current Los Angeles Lakers star, LeBron James, a three-time NBA champion, praisedSternfor changing the lives of so many young adults, and "more importantly your vision to make our game become worldwide, a vision only you could make happen."

Bill Russell, who won 11 championships in 13 years with the Boston Celtics long beforeSternbecamecommissioner, said in a tweet: "He changed so many lives. David was a great innovator andmadethe game we love what it is today. This is a horrible loss."

Another retired NBA star, Shaquille O'Neal, calledStern: "The bestcommissionerto ever do it."

"We lost a legend," said Germany's Dirk Nowitzki, a 14-time all-star with the Dallas Mavericks.

Asked to name his most cherished courtside moment,Stern, in a 2014 interview with the New York Times, pointed to a photograph of him presenting Magic Johnson with the most valuable player trophy at the 1992 All-Star Game, months after Johnson retired from the Los Angeles Lakers on disclosing he had contracted the virus that causes AIDS.

The 1992 "Dream Team"the first US Olympic men's basketball squad to include active players from the NBA - was another special moment.

"This much-maligned group of players and sport, on the march to the gold medal stand, being feted like a combination of the Bolshoi, the Philharmonic and the Beatles,"Sternsaid.

Johnson remembered that journey on Wednesday: "When David allowed me to play in the 1992 All Star Game in Orlando and then play for the Olympic Dream Team, we were able to change the world," he said on Twitter.

Sternalso presided over four NBA lockouts, including two that resulted in shortened seasons in 1998-99 and 2011.

Stern, who had remained affiliated with the NBA and held the title ofcommissioneremeritus, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2016.