On February 1, 1984, Stern became the Commissioner of the NBA, succeeding O'Brien during the league's recovery from its darkest period. Instead of marketing the league's teams, he changed the focus to its star players, such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley from the 1984 NBA draft, which was held soon after Stern took office. Jordan's arrival, in particular, ushered in a new era of commercial bounty for the NBA. With him came his flair and talent for the game, and that brought in shoe contracts from Nike which helped to give the league even more national attention.