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.
