Jessica Holtz has assumed a new role within CAA Sports’ industry-leading Basketball division, in which she will serve as the contract agent for NBA All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker, becoming the first-ever female agent to represent two max contract players. Continuing to operate as Co-Head of Basketball, Holtz will manage the off-the-court businesses for Towns and Booker, in addition to D’Angelo Russell, Chris Paul and Joel Embiid, and will have access to the vast resources of the agency to create world-class opportunities in all areas for these clients.
In a quote from Jessica Holtz, she describes her new role as “an exciting one in that it’s different from what is already out there and really fits my clients’ needs and my strengths. My role is expanded to include on the court representation for those clients but continuing to build the businesses for my marketing clients off the court. I am excited to be part of an agency like CAA and work with partners internally who are supportive and embraced this new role, especially for me as a female in a highly male-dominated position.”
In her prior role as Co-Head of Basketball Marketing and Servicing, Holtz helped spearhead the off-the-court efforts of the agency’s 75 NBA clients, orchestrating, facilitating, and managing nearly $200M in endorsement agreements. CAA Board Member Lisa Joseph Metelus and Lloyd Frischer will continue to lead the efforts of the group.
In 2017, Holtz worked on behalf of Paul George, helping manage his first signature shoe, the PG1, and the following year, was instrumental in orchestrating 76ers star and client Embiid’s five-year shoe deal with Under Armour, which according to ESPN, the endorsement’s value made him the highest-paid center in the NBA. His signature shoe, the Embiid One, debuted on September 18, 2020, backed by a comprehensive advertising campaign featuring Embiid himself. His partners also include EA Sports, Mountain Dew, HyperX, Fanatics, Panini, and HULU.
She also helped facilitate D’Angelo Russell’s ground-breaking partnership with Li-Ning’s Way of Wade, and brokered and manages Devin Booker’s endorsement partnerships with Nike, Finish Line, and Call of Duty, as well as his charitable initiative, The Starting Five. For Karl-Anthony Towns, she has assembled a robust portfolio of partners, including Nike, Gatorade, 2K Sports, MetroPCS, Xbox, Beats by Dre, Call of Duty, Panini, and YouTube.
Holtz works closely with NBPA President and NBA All-Star Chris Paul, helping navigate his entertainment endeavors through Ohh Dip!!! Productions, which recently announced that HBO Sports will distribute “The Day Sports Stood Still,” a feature documentary from Emmy-winning director Antoine Fuqua about the global shutdown of pro sports in wake of the coronavirus. The film will be anchored by a first-person account from Paul, who also serves as executive producer, and will chronicle shutdowns, athletes’ prominent role in the cultural reckoning on racial injustices that escalated during the pandemic and the complex return to competition in the summer and fall. Imagine Documentaries along with Fuqua Films will produce the doc, to debut in 2021on HBO and streaming on HBO Max. Earlier this summer, Ohh Dip!!! announced that it had teamed with Roadside Entertainment to produce a docuseries rooted in basketball programs at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The show will unfold over the course of the 2020-21 season, with the goal to provide an intimate look at the challenges HBCU schools face in competing with bigger programs to attract top basketball recruits. Holtz has been integral in securing and managing Paul’s comprehensive endorsement portfolio, which includes Jordan, State Farm, Dove Men’s, Knowable, Beyond Meat, and Fanatics.
In the Sports Business Journal, Michael Levine, co-head of CAA Sports, praises Holtz saying “For Jessica, working in service of such high-profile clients isn’t a desk job; it’s an all-encompassing lifestyle, and she embraces it. Her hard work, dedication and impact on our players, as well as CAA Sports, is a reflection of how deeply she cares.”
Holtz began her career at the National Basketball Association, then served three years as Senior Director at Excel Sports Management. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in Sports Journalism, and earned her MBA at Baruch College. She will report in to CAA Sports Co-Heads Howard Nuchow and Michael Levine.
CAA Basketball represents 75 NBA players who have collectively been named to 58 All-Star and 40 All-NBA teams.