NBA Commissioner David Stern sauntered out gingerly before taking his seat alongside Bloomberg Businessweek editor Josh Turangiel on the stage of 92Y's Buttenwieser Hall. His demeanor and his cadence read like an affable, lovable grandpa, but his words resonated with the generationally diverse crowd who has seen him develop a second-tier league into the world's biggest sport (sorry futbol).

As part of the Captains of Industry series, the talk focused mainly on the business-side of the game. Sadly, there were no mentions of the Brooklyn Nets, and only a few jabs at the Knicks ("Will Jason Kidd make it to 41?"), yet despite the obvious local whiffs (and a censored Q&A via index card submissions), he warmed-over listeners with jokes and a quick wit interspersed with very heavy topics such as AIDS and race relations. And like any good Zayde, he stuck around after the one-hour lecture to shake hands with the audience. Here are a few of the highlights:

On the NBA when he started vs. now:

In 1978 I was hired as general council, and I thought, I'll do it for two years with a one year option. I figured it was a fun opportunity that I didn't want to look back on and say I passed up…

At that time the finals were televised on tape delay and the only time we made the national stage was because of acts of violence or race issues.

Weekend day games were one of the few ways we could get live broadcasts, and I remember the Houston vs. Celtics finals we scheduled back-to-back Saturday and Sunday day games just to have the live telecast. Compare that to now, Lebron James had probably been seen more by high school than Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell had been in their entire careers.

The NBA's first TV contract under his watch:

We had a contract with CBS for $22 million per game, and our first cable deal was with USA for somewhere between $400k-$600k per game, but at that time CBS only televised three regular season games. I remember when the NFL lockout happened we thought we'd get an extra game or two televised, but instead they aired the St. John's vs the Yugoslavian National Team.

His first draft:

I remember it vividly because at this year's All-Star game in Houston we honored their greats: Rudy Tomjanovich, Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon… and Hakeem was my first draft.

We went big time… we went to an Italian restaurant and I was entertaining Hakeem and his family and I had to ask the staff if we could have a room with higher ceilings. [laughs]. No, but it was literally just a dinner at a restaurant.

The issue of race in the NBA and becoming mainstream:

I don't know if or where it ended, but of course it [race] is an important part of our history. I remember being called by an agent for an advertiser who said he didn't want to advertise with us anymore because we were getting "too black."

An important columnist at the time, who I won't name, said "there's no way America will accept a majority black league."

It's a much larger story, but race is a part of our story, maybe it always will be, or at least an undercurrent, but it's wonderfully, wonderfully ignored by a generation of people who just grew up being basketball fans.

On Magic Johnson and his HIV announcement.

Magic was probably more important to the NBA than any other player because he had a love of the game that was instantly recognizable. And of course he had the perfect foil in Larry.

I have a lot of feelings about that [Magic announcing he's HIV-positive]... First of all, what people need to understand is we thought he was going to die. There's no mincing words; you didn't survive, Magic was going to die.

Magic Johnson, by himself, changed the opinion of AIDS, not just in this country, but the world.

Before Magic we had children like Ryan White being thrown out of school. After his announcement, Nickelodeon did a special with HIV-positive children and Magic Johnson. Now HIV / AIDS is a treatable disease.

On growing the game internationally:

In 1985 I met the head of the Chinese National team and I told him I hope someday we can host your team. Keep in mind at the time our relationship with China wasn't the best. A few weeks later I get a letter saying, "I graciously accept your offer." [laughs]

So we looked around for sponsors, trying to raise $200k to make it happen, which was no easy feat. In fact, if you Google, you'll see the "Friendship Tour presented by Kaliber Beer", which was the non-alcoholic brand of Guiness.

So they came and scrimmaged against the Knicks... They were horrible.

[Josh Turangiel interjects] Yeah, that was a tough time for the Knicks.

Yeah, the Chinese team was bad too. And then they went and played in Washington, and up to Boston to meet Red Aurbach… and that kind of started it all.

[Josh] Would you say you were lucky that as the brand of basketball was growing in China, along comes a 7' 6" Chinese man entering the NBA draft?

There's a great quote: Luck is the residue of desire.

Keep in mind at the 1936 Olympics, when basketball was first introduced, China was one of the original 32 teams. I think they came in 16th place. But they truly believed they invented the game.

Sports is an incredible international language—and let's leave Dennis Rodman out of this—but it can do amazing things.

His relationship with Michael Jordan:

It's good. I call him up and bust his chops when his team is not doing well, which is a lot.

What he will do on his first day of retirement:

I keep telling my wife I'm going to go grocery shopping with her. But I don't know, whatever it is, it's going to be fun.

Favorite person on social media:

Metta World Peace.

His dream job:

If I could have a job where I could pass legislation without having to wait on the two houses of Congress, that would be my dream job. It's a sorry state, and it's a great testament to this country that America is doing so well because of the hard work of the people. Americans are working much harder than our government is.

Would he want to be Mayor of NYC?

I'm not crazy.