Appearing on the latest episode of PodcastOne Sports Now with Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press (h/t to NBA.com), NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told Reynolds that he has already offered the all-but-assured No. 1 overall pick of the Pelicans, Duke’s Zion Williamson, a little bit of advice on how to enjoy the process of beginning an NBA career.
First off, despite the drama surrounding the Anthony Davis situation in New Orleans right now, Silver says Williamson is fortunate that new president of basketball operations David Griffin was hired, as he is the “right guy at the right time” for the Pelicans, especially since he has the unenviable task of determining whether or not – and perhaps when – to trade Davis. As for the actual advice given to Williamson, Silver said:
“(F)ocus on your game first and foremost the other stuff will come after it. But (that being said), this is a special moment in your life… to the extent you can remain in the moment. There’s so much attention focused on you and at the end of the day this is a game and you now have the opportunity to play it at the highest level. There’s tremendous resources available to you no matter what team drafts you.”
It continues to look more and more unlikely that Davis and Williamson will get to play together in The Big Easy, but that may ultimately be in Williamson’s best interest, as he should be the go-to guy immediately. Moreover, the haul the Pelicans will get in return for Davis should be a nice supporting cast with which to surround Williamson.
Maybe introduce him to a legitimate money manager. Unlike what LaVar did to his kid. Each one of these athletes should have a money manager appointed to them by the NBA, vetted by the NBA if the NBA truly cared about protecting their assets.
Duh, the NBA has serious programs to guide rookies in money management as well as life skills . He is also being represented by CAA, which is a great agency that represents many major stars not only in sports but entertainment. He just has to follow the program that they put him on.
Serious program has 60% of athletes going bankrupt 5 yrs after playing? Old stat from 2009 study wonder if anyone has updated #s.
@sirgrant CAA, and all other agencies, have nothing to do with the management of money. An agent’s job is to bring money earning opportunities to it’s client including negotiation of contracts but also extending to brand management and cross marketing opportunities.
@Z-A The NBA can’t mandate what agents you have. Not only is it a conflict of interests but think of the liability the NBA could be subject to by assigning an agent to you. Secondly, every agent has to get vetted and certified by each sports league in order to be a sports agent in that league. It also has various programs for first year players, sought of a freshman orientation where they guide players on the do’s and don’ts and brings in former players to show them the ropes, including aspects of their personal lives. Finally, there’s wayyyy too much information out there, including a ESPN special called “broke” that breaks it down very well. Anyone that fails to listen, that’s their problem. In this day an age, with LBJ and Paul heading up the Player Rep association, I would be shocked that the incidences of players going broke hasn’t declined a lot more.
The actual agent he had, Harrison Gaines MAY or may not have had some wrong doings but the guy who is accused of ripping of BBB was NOT an agent. He was a family friend that was a partner at Big Baller Brand (BBB). That’s an outside entity that the NBA can’t regulate. The majority of the fiancial calamities that befall NBA players are usually not anything under the control of the agent. It’s usually bad spending habits and poor investment decisions, usually dealing with the formation of new business ventures they invest in like the BBB. His father is the one that brought those opps and invested his kid’s money into and while I may not fault the intent of LaVar (setting up a company where Lonzo can sell his own kicks, etc) he did a poor job of structuring the front office with a guy with zero history of running such a company.
I didnt say anything about agents.
@sirgrant CAA made a comment that Zion should follow the program that CAA will have for him. You said that program wasn’t working because of the high percentage of players that go broke. Maybe I shouldn’t have directed the comment solely to you but you were sort of speaking as if it were the agents responsibility to keep the clients from going broke. It’s not.
extremely marketable this kids going to do all right – hopefully he stays locked in