BEIJING -- NBA commissioner David Stern is intrigued by the question buzzing around the Beijing Games: Who would win a match-up between the 1992 Dream Team and the 2008 Redeem Team?
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"I'd actually pay to buy a ticket for that one," Stern said in an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday. And though he wouldn't pick a winner, he seemed to favor the frontcourt of the 1992 team.
"David Robinson and Karl Malone? And that was the frontcourt," Stern said. "Who else was up there? Patrick Ewing. So Patrick, David and Karl Malone -- that would be interesting."
That game might be a fantasy for hoop fans. But the reality is that both squads have helped the NBA as it tries to cash in on the global market.
The 1992 team -- with icons such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird -- introduced NBA basketball to the world stage. Sixteen years later, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have become China's darlings -- and the NBA is hoping capitalize on the basketball's popularity by investing millions in the sport's development in this sprawling nation.
The league has plans for an NBA-affiliated league here, and Stern envisions league partnership in as many as "eight or 10 or 12 arenas throughout China."
"The world is embracing the sport that the Dream Teamers brought to Barcelona," Stern said. "And I would say the 2008 Olympics really demonstrate that complete embrace."
Stern said he never imagined the NBA/China relationship that began in 1985 would be as popular as it is at the Beijing Games.
"You know, I didn't even dare to think about that," Stern said. "The question was one step at a time. If you've been along on the journey, sometimes you don't realize how far you've come."
Stern said the league does not see China as an entry point to Asia.
India could be next on the NBA's radar. Stern said NBA officials have met in Beijing with Indian authorities, and the league staged its first Basketball Without Borders events in India this summer.
"We think that that's a very promising market," said Stern, who arrived in Beijing on Monday night and attended the U.S.' 106-57 victory against Germany.
"The sport is very much on the move," he said.
