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On a postgame team flight back to Chicago in 2021, Thaddeus Young and a few of his Bulls teammates were playing booray, a gambling card game. During a break, Bulls star guard Zach LaVine noticed Young combing through a document on his laptop. It was a business deck for digital sports brand Overtime.
LaVine was curious and wanted to know more about the Gen Z media company, so Young told him about the value proposition of the brand that garners more than 100 million social media followers. LaVine wanted in. Young later connected LaVine with Overtime president Zack Weiner.
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The rest is history; the former teammates, along with ex-Bulls forward Garrett Temple, are all now on the cap table at Overtime, which is tracking to cross $100 million in revenue this year.
“Who’s not going to let an NBA basketball player [invest] in a basketball company,” Young said about Overtime, which calls more than 6% of active NBA players investors. “You want as many stars as you can to be around it.”
Young, who just finished his 17th season in the NBA, has been one of the catalysts for the culture change in the NBA as more players are conversing about deal flow and sharing investment opportunities, rather than boasting about their new sports car purchase or fancy summer home. The latter won’t ever stop, of course, but for many teams, especially ones led by veteran players who have earned multiple contracts, it’s now normal to discuss their venture and equity matters.
NBA players no longer merely associate themselves with businessmen. They are businessmen.
It’s a realization today’s ballers are having after watching stars of the past score big off the court, from Kobe Bryant’s lucrative Bodyarmor investment ($400 million exit) to LeBron James’ ownership stake in SpringHill Company (valued at $725 million in 2021). These walking enterprises not only want to grow their own wealth but more often want the rest of the NBA’s closely knit brotherhood to also be successful.
“It’s been pretty drastic as to what guys are comfortable and open to talking about in the locker room,” New Orleans Pelicans…
Source link : https://finance.yahoo.com/news/culture-change-nba-players-more-120000722.html
Author : Sportico
Publish date : 2024-06-12 12:00:00
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