Adecade ago, Adam Silver faced his first critical test of leadership. On April 29, 2014, the media was waiting for the rookie NBA commissioner to address racist comments by Clippers owner Donald Sterling about Black players that had sparked a national scandal. NBA players were threatening to boycott, with LeBron James warning: “There’s no room for that in our game.” Still, many thought Silver would be able to only fine or suspend the execrable Sterling, who’d been a stain on the league’s image for decades.

Wrong. Silver, who’d officially succeeded the late David Stern less than three months before, hammered the billionaire owner with the NBA equivalent of the death penalty, banning Sterling for life, fining him $2.5 million, and forcing him to sell the franchise he’d owned for 33 years. The bespectacled, mild-looking former lawyer instantly became the hero of NBA players and a swooning sports media.