After hearing Larry Bird's comments, NBA Commissioner David Stern at halftime of Tuesday's Game 5 of the NBA Finals. said, "Larry is just flat-out wrong,"

Last week Bird replied to an ESPN, if the league needed more white superstars:

"Well, I think so," said Bird, the Indiana Pacers' president of basketball operations. "You know, when I played, you had me and Kevin [McHale] and some others throughout the league. I think it's good for a fan base because, as we all know, the majority of the fans are white America. And if you just had a couple of white guys in there, you might get them a little excited. But it is a black man's game, and it will be forever. I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American."