The National Basketball Association is the most popular professional basketball league in North America; it is also the most popular professional basketball league in the world. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the most diverse businesses in the world, which was former NBA Commissioner David Stern's deliberate plan. The NBA was once an all-white, male-dominated league. Today, after years of aggressive efforts to diversify the organization, the NBA is now one of the shining beacons of diversity, tolerance and acceptance in the workplace. Former NBA Commissioner David Stern led and implemented the best examples of creating and cultivating merit-based opportunities for success. “When David Stern leaves his post as NBA commissioner in 2014, among the legacies he will have created is an era in professional sports when leagues and teams hired the best people possible. He embraced the moral imperative of diversity while helping to show other leagues that diversity is also a business imperative. Evidence of the NBA's continued commitment to racial equality can be seen in the strong ratings at the league office and in many key areas at the team level. » (Lapchick, R.) To fully understand the transformation of the league, we will cover the history. of the association, team diversity, league diversity, the NBA's diversity initiative and current diversity issues. On August 3, 1949, the National Basketball League (NBL) was dissolved into the Basketball Association of American (BAA), which was formed in 1946 to create the National Basketball Association. With the merger of the two leagues into the NBA, there were now 18 teams which were eventually reduced to eight teams. The original eight are still...... middle of paper ....../story/news/usanow/2014/04/29/donald-sterling-fine-penalty-racism-audio-commissioner-adam-silver -los-angeles-suspension/8460575/Vecsey, G. (August 10, 2009). "Pioneer Knick relives long-ago cheers". The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/sports/basketball/11vecsey.html?hp NBA pioneer Harold Hunter, former Xavier coach, died Thursday. (March 7, 2013). NOLA.com. Retrieved April 20, 2014 from http://www.nola.com/xavier/index.ssf/2013/03/pioneering_coach_harold_hunter.htmlThe NBA was born. (nd). History.com. Retrieved April 20, 2014 from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nba-is-bornLapchick, R., Hippert, A., Rivera, S. and Robinson, J. (June 25 2013). Racial and gender report card 2013: National Basketball Association. . Accessed April 20, 2014 from http://tidesport.org/RGRC/2013/2013_NBA_RGRC.pdf