The reign of David Joel Stern as NBA commissioner came to an end this morning, thirty years to the day in which it started – February 1, 1984. Adam Silver, former deputy commissioner, is now the commissioner of the NBA.
With the end of Stern’s rule comes the end of the David Stern signature official in-game NBA basketball, the new Adam Silver ball will make it’s debut in today’s ballgames.
The original plan was to keep using the Stern balls until the end of the season to make sure basketballs used during the regular season were broken in properly… there was a bit of a media opposition to this plan and Spalding eventually changed course. NBA teams were given Adam Silver signed balls starting in December so they’d be well worked-in by the time the change happened in-game on February 1.
If you’re into that sorta thing, you can purchase an Adam Silver ball beginning in August; until then you’re stuck with the David Stern basketballs, but hey, they’re 10% off.
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