NBA Commissioner David Stern is counting on the 2012 London Olympics to help give the league a foothold in Britain.

"The future of the NBA with London is to grow the sport at the grassroots level, to grow the business of the sport because this a huge market with huge potential," Stern said Friday.

Stern added that the NBA wants to make basketball "as popular as possible during the 2012 Olympics, and then to use the Olympics as an even better springboard to develop the sport in this country."