National Basketball Association

Report: Stern to step down in 2014

Published Mar. 3, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

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NBA commissioner David Stern is set to inform league owners that he will step down after two more seasons at April's Board of Governors meeting, the New York Daily News reported Saturday, citing a source.

"At one point, he had talked about doing it for one more season, but it looks now like two more," the source is quoted as saying.

The report comes a week after the 69-year-old Stern gave his deputy Adam Silver a glowing endorsement during All-Star weekend, saying he would recommend him as his successor when he retires.

Stern did not provide an exact timetable for his departure at the time, but confirmed he would not be in charge in six years, when the owners and players can opt out of the recently signed collective bargaining agreement.

Silver, who has been the league's deputy commissioner and chief operating officer since 2006, has long been considered Stern's heir apparent.

The Daily News report said Silver was a "lock" to replace Stern and had the backing of almost 90 percent of the owners, when all he needs is a simple majority.

"One of the things that a good CEO does -- and I try to be a good CEO -- is provide his board with a spectacular choice for its successor, and I think I've done that, and that's Adam," Stern said last week.

"He's a first-rate, top-of-the-class executive ... if I were doing it myself, he would be the commissioner."

Stern became the NBA's general counsel in 1978. By 1980, he was the league's executive vice president, before beginning his tenure as commissioner in 1984, succeeding Larry O'Brien.