“I’m surprised at the number of elite athletes from around the world who are in the NBA as of 2006.” National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner David Stern made this comment when asked about the future of the NBA. For the 2006-2007 NBA season, approximately 100 of the NBA’s 450 players will be from countries outside of the United States. But David Stern’s surprise is rather disingenuous, as he readily admits the NBA’s commitments to investing in Europe, South America, Africa and China, to name a few, over the past decade.”The China market is our most important and largest market outside the United States. China is clearly priority No. 1,” Stern said, as he was interviewed from Guangzhou, China in early August 2006, where the U.S. National Basketball Team was playing in exhibition games prior to the World Championships in Japan. He went on to say that the NBA’s business holdings in China are growing by 30% each year.Stern hopes to double the NBA’s staff from 50 to 100 at its three China offices in time for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Stern has structured a marketing engine in China, ready to sell more NBA merchandise and apparel, expanding its online…