David Stern’s legacy — in addition to leading the NBA out of the era of tape-delayed playoff games on television to the point where the league is competitive with the NFL and MLB among American fans — will be using stars such as Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal and now LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant to popularize the game abroad.

The NBA has never been more profitable, as evidenced by the popular NBA-Europe series in which the Mavericks and Celtics headed east to face Euroleague teams while the Heat and Clippers faced off in China. What’s more, there are two European teams currently in the United States facing NBA teams during the preseason.