In an interview earlier this week, David Stern talked to Ryan Ruocco and Stephen A. Smith about a variety of NBA issues, including the revitalization of the league's two New York teams.
It’s a hoot to have the Knicks and the Nets. I’m sure that there are people in L.A. who think it’s a hoot to have the Clippers and the Lakers. But I’m a New York City person, and it’s sort of like on the tip of everyone’s tongue as you walk around the city. … Obviously Nets fans have had a long and rough haul, along with Knick fans to some degree … but you can see people sort of dancing around a bit. And what the Nets have done for Brooklyn is very exciting. Around that area, where yellow cabs used to never be seen, where businesses used to be boarded up, it’s suddenly vibrant.
During the Nets nine-year long effort to move the team to Brooklyn, Stern was among Bruce Ratner's biggest supporters.
Meanwhile, another commissioner, the NHL's Gary Bettman, told AP sports editors he wanted to see the (playoff-bound) Islanders move to Brooklyn as soon as possible, meaning 2014-15, a year earlier than planned.
There are incredibly exciting things going on in Brooklyn. You see what has been accomplished with the opening of the Barclays Center and the relocation of the Nets. The Islanders are telling me that they're getting extraordinarily strong feedback from their fans and their season ticket holders who are going to make the move with them and there's a great deal of excitement about the fact that the team is finally getting a first-class facility to play in.