NBA Commissioner David Stern Goes On Radio, Asks Jim Rome If He’s Still Beating His Wife

David Stern took The Jim Rome Show down an uncomfortable road today when the NBA commissioner fired a particularly awkward shot at the host.

Rome asked if the NBA draft lottery was fixed, given the league-owned New Orleans Hornets got the first pick. Stern first said, “No, shame on you for asking.” Then,”Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”

The few minutes after the remark were spent debating the legitimacy of Rome’s question and the interview ended with Stern saying “I have to go call someone important now. Stephen A. Smith is up next.”

Asked for a comment by USA TODAY Sports, NBA spokesman Mike Bass late Wednesday said of Stern’s second reply, “What it is is a classic unanswerable question, same as the one the Commissioner was asked.”

Regardless, it was a poor comeback that failed to satisfy the question — loaded or otherwise.

Later, on his CBS Sports Network cable TV show ROME, Rome suggested the wife-beating reference might have been confusing to some: “It was a rhetorical device. A lot of people don’t know that phrase. They didn’t know where he was going. But I understood that.”

Said Rome on asking Stern about the NBA Draft being fixed: “I was not looking to start anything. I thought it was a softball question. … The only people who believe in (a fixed draft) are whack jobs and people that are out of hand.”

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