Former NBA Commissioner David Stern remains in serious condition following emergency surgery after he suffered a brain hemorrhage Thursday, the league said Monday in a statement.

“He is receiving great care and surrounded by his loved ones,” the NBA’s statement read. “The Stern family and everyone at the NBA appreciate the incredible outpouring of support. Our thoughts and prayers remain with David and his family.”

Stern, 77, stepped aside as commissioner in 2014 but remained active working with venture capitalists and remaining close to the NBA.

Stern joined the league in 1978 after working with the league as an attorney for the law firm Proskauer Rose, where he worked with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s father, Edward.

Stern became commissioner in 1984 and helped turned the league into a multi-billion dollar global enterprise with 30 teams. The league flourished under Stern’s watch as he made sure stars and bright personalities such as Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were on TV for game broadcasts and profiled often in feature stories.

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“David Stern is the No. 1 force, the No. 1 reason why this league is where it is today,” Miami Heat President Pat Riley told USA TODAY Sports in 2014. “That’s not disrespectful to any one great player in any one era or any owner. This has to do with the leadership of one man.

“Over that span of time, things don’t change because they’re coincidences. They don’t. There’s somebody at the top who is going to eliminate what is bad and market what is good. He was a very forceful, very pragmatic visionary.”

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