Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.
You could say everything we know and love about the modern NBA—the artistry, the drama, the pure spectacle of it all—began with Magic and Larry and Michael. No one would argue.
You could say it began with former commissioner David Stern, whose vision, ambition and marketing savvy helped make them household names.