https://www.si.com/nba/2018/10/24/d...-james-chris-paul-donald-trump-lakers-hornets [...] Stern has long had a complicated relationship with the media. He tells me he once got a writer fired from USA Today because he wrote "the most horrible things about some of our people." Recalls Stern, "He said, 'You got me fired didn't you?' And I said, 'Yes, and I'm proud of it. I'd do it again.' There is a family. We call it the NBA family and we really, we live it." Stern also recounts how in 2010 he fined Pistons general manager Joe Dumars $500,000 for leaking league memos to reporter Adrian Wojnarowski after enacting a sting. When Stern stepped down, Woj opened fire with both barrels, calling him, "the biggest ego in the history of the sport" among other things. ("I never read it but I heard it was nasty," Stern says.) [...] Similarly, he prefers not to share his thoughts on the league, but he did say to ask him anything. So over sandwiches—which we eat in because Stern always eats in—I take him up on his offer. Here goes: LeBron going to the Lakers? "I always thought it was going to happen that way," Stern says. "Someone tells me his son is enrolled at Crossroads. He wants to be with his family. It was a family decision. I mean, Maverick [Carter, James's business manager] moved there. C'mon! C'mon, guy!" The dominance of the Warriors? "It's great. They've got a great team. Interesting players, a dynamic coach, owners that demonstrate that they care, they're about to open up a billion-dollar-plus building.... I think it's only good. And I don't believe in the debate about superteams, because when I started there were two superteams: the Celtics and Lakers.... Look at the attendance and the ratings and the product sales. We're the most metricized business there is, and all signs are positive." Any regrets? He pauses. The lockouts, Stern finally offers, referring to the four that occurred on his watch, in 1995, '96, '98–99 and 2011. He hated that they had to occur. Bad for the fans. Bad for players. Bad for the league. "I did what I had to do, but it was terrible. I don't mind doing battle with the media or reporters but not with our players." The recent sexual harassment scandal with the Mavericks? "I think that it's just another area where management has to be observant and obsessive. We make it our business to be out there, and we have to suffer what comes from the scrutiny." What about Roger Goodell? Couldn't he benefit from Stern's advice? "You'd think, right? You'd think he'd call every day." How about Chris Paul, whose trade to the Lakers, Stern vetoed in 2011 during his time as de facto owner of the New Orleans franchise (then the Hornets, now the Pelicans)? "I didn't do a great job of explaining it at the time. There was a trade that [New Orleans GM] Dell Demps wanted us to approve and I said heck no, but he had told [Rockets GM] Daryl Morey and [then Lakers GM] Mitch Kupchak he had authority to do it and he didn't. I said no. We just settled a lockout and you want me to approve a basketball trade?" The reaction was swift but Stern held firm. "[Demps] had agreed to [trade Paul to the Rockets for] Kevin Martin and Luis Scola or something, and I said we can do better than that.... And the next trade was [to the Clippers for] Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu and what we thought was a really great draft pick, the 10th pick, which turned out to be Austin Rivers. At least those three and someone else [center Chris Kaman]. But Dell Demps is a lousy general manager and none of those players are currently with the team anymore, and he may lose Anthony Davis." Stern continues: "I did it because I was protecting the then Hornets.... To this day everyone always asks me, 'Well why did you keep Chris Paul from going to the Lakers?' I didn't keep him. I didn't approve the trade. No team sells or trades a future Hall of Famer without the owner signing off, and I was the owner's rep. But I wasn't going to hand up Dell Demps." After this, Stern goes on for a bit before returning to what he sees as the irony. "Now when DeMarcus Cousins signs with Golden State, then the great unwashed Twitter says, 'Adam Silver should be like Stern and stop him from going.' Oh, O.K., guys, that's great! Right? That's ridiculous. Step up, strap on a set. It's stupid." The explanation is classic Stern: an admission of error followed by a diminishment of that error and, ultimately, vindication.
"[Demps] had agreed to [trade Paul to the Rockets for] Kevin Martin and Luis Scola or something, and I said we can do better than that.... " Finally........ after years it is solidly confirmed what had been passed around for years.
I'm no fan of Dell Demps, but David Stern is a complete jerk for expressing this publicly. Taking personal shots about people is trash. For the record, I'm glad the trade was vetoed because Morey's plan would have totally failed.
I like how he left out the 1st round pick, Lamar Odom and Goran Dragic. It was a better deal than the one they ended up with.
People always complain about Stern vetoing that trade, but he’s correct: he was acting as owner of the team, not just as commissioner. Demps was his employee. You don’t like Stern having that power, don’t let a team go bankrupt and have to be taken over by the NBA. Saying the commissioner should veto other ‘unfair’ trades is ignoring the fact this was a unique situation, and the NBA doesn’t have the right to nix legal trades when they are not acting as team owner.
