And none of it happens if the IOC doesn't allow the best players in the world to play in their sandbox.
And I would argue that the NFL was well ahead of the NBA regarding the bolded, but nobody outside the US (and some Canadians) cares.
Yep. The Dream Team was the ultimate tipping point. I just don't think it has the same resonance without Jordan, nor Jordan without Nike. Magic and Bird were past their primes and they needed an heir apparent for marketing. I know Jordan famously turned down the C, but he's still the one that caught on. Stars sell and the NBA has a product where stars win on top of it.
In regard to the business end of things, as fantastic of a job guys like Rozelle did, Stern's approach in the 80s is something they still use as an exemplar in business schools. There weren't many corporations with as fine of an understanding of brand image or as tight of a control on it, let alone sports leagues.
Hell, the most impressive part of what Stern did was that he mostly used other people's money. He created all sorts of side events to keep the league in view with minimal financial investment. They were really the first league to prioritize trained businesspeople, although that wasn't until the 90s. Basically, Stern started running a modern corporation around 1984. The NFL was catching on quickly, but they didn't leverage it nearly as well for quite a few more years.