How David Stern Navigated Race in the N.B.A.

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It was late in the summer of 1995, weeks of labor strife having consumed the N.B.A., and an off-season lockout had come to an end. David Stern, suddenly viewed by players as more corporate pariah than patriarchal commissioner, was asked about Michael Jordan’s uncharacteristic (anti-owner) activism, which one national commentator had compared to a “drive-by shooting.”

Mercifully free of crisis mode, back to being the guardian of all things N.B.A., Papa Stern was having none of that.

“Damn the people who say that Michael was just being greedy, that he should just shut up and play,” he said, though actually beginning with a more vigorous four-letter word. “That’s a…