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Former Basketball Agent Jason Levien Becomes CEO Of The Memphis Grizzlies

From Udonis Haslem’s agent to Chief Executive Officer of the Memphis Grizzlies, watching and covering Jason Levien’s path through the business of sport has been exciting.  Levien, who will become the Grizzlies’ new CEO and managing partner, was first written about on Sports Agent Blog in an Agent Spotlight published on May 11, 2007.  At that time, a younger Levien (he was 36-years-old) had left the prominent law firm Greenberg Traurig to establish his own basketball agency where he represented quite a few talented players.  I wrote, “[Levien] will have much more success in the NBA in years to come.”  However, I could have never guessed that his achievements would be so numerous and occur so quickly

Since 2007, Levien has been General Counsel/Assistant General Manager of the Sacramento Kings, Senior Vice President of the same organization, co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, and general partner of soccer franchise DC United.  ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that Levien will continue his role with DC United.

In addition to his DC United obligations, Levien now takes on a big role, one I am sure he has been working very hard to achieve, with the Memphis Grizzlies.  Levien, who helped broker the deal that allowed Robert Pera to purchase the Grizzlies for $377 million, will be in charge of basketball and business decisions for the team.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.