In the past few years, I have covered three former basketball agents making the jump from representing players to being one of the key figures with regards to managing basketball operations of an NBA franchise. Lon Babby, formerly an NBPA certified basketball agent/attorney with Williams & Connolly accepted an offer to become President of Basketball Operations with the Phoenix Suns. In 2008, Jason Levien, owner of his own company named Levien Sports Representation, left his agency behind to become General Counsel/Assistant General Manager of the Sacramento Kings and was later promoted to Senior Vice President prior to resigning in 2010. This past year, Levien became part owner of the Philadelphia 76ers.
And then there is former Wasserman Media Group agent Bob Myers, who signed contract to become the Assistant General Manager of the Golden State Warriors. Last week, Myers was promoted to general manager, replacing Larry Riley. Riley is now director of scouting for the Warriors.
Myers is a young general manager (he is 37-years-old), but has a wealth of experience negotiating professional basketball contracts. He spent 14 years as an agent prior to switching to the management side of the business. Now, he is the man in charge at Golden State. Having sat on a panel with Myers at Southwestern Law School, I can attest that Myers is a fantastic person and trust that he will do a great job in his new role.
