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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports show.

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Speaker 1: But we explored the big old money issues in the

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Speaker 1: world of sports. I'm Michael Blarn, I'm Scarlett Poe. Welcome back,

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr. Thank you so nice to me. I was

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Speaker 1: bragging on you just a second ago. It's like, by

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Speaker 1: the way, I gotta guest and here we gotta, we

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Speaker 1: gotta say hello. So bring her in. Okay, we have

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Speaker 1: Trista law who is sitting here with us. She's an

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Speaker 1: intern with Bloomberg and she's listening in and helping out

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Speaker 1: on the podcast today. Done made your debut on the air. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: Damien is off for this interview, and we're in the

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Speaker 1: home stretch of the NBA season and there are a

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Speaker 1: lot of interesting storylines to talk about. Yeah. This past week,

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Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzly start Job Morant returned to the court from

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Speaker 1: his suspension that, of course, stemmed from some troubling behavior.

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Speaker 1: He was caught on video in a social media post

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Speaker 1: with a gun in a compromising position at a strip club.

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Speaker 1: Here's Job Morant addressing the media for the first time

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Speaker 1: after the spension, talking about what he's doing to help

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Speaker 1: make things in better choices because being you know, more responsible,

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Speaker 1: you know, mar smarter. Um, it's pretty much it for

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Speaker 1: me obviously. You know I made mistakes sentiphize that you know,

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Speaker 1: cause a lot of negative attention not on it to me,

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Speaker 1: but no my family as well, you know my team,

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Speaker 1: you know the organization, and I'm completely sorry for that.

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Speaker 1: So you know my job now it's like I said

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Speaker 1: to you know, being you know, more responsible, more smarter,

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Speaker 1: and you know, don't cause any of that at more.

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Speaker 1: We also recently heard from another NBA superstar, Damian Lillard.

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Speaker 1: He was on the Old Man and the Three podcast

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Speaker 1: and he told former player JJ Reddick that he thinks

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Speaker 1: younger players are entering the league are, in his words entitled,

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Speaker 1: when I came in the league, you had to earn

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Speaker 1: not just what you get from the team or like

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Speaker 1: the respect, you had to like you had to earn

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Speaker 1: your space on the team. You know, it was no, oh,

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Speaker 1: you the sixth picket of the draft, it's your team?

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Speaker 1: Like what is this your team stuff? You know what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, and I think now the biggest differences

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Speaker 1: you don't have that veteran presence. Portland Trail Blazers star

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Speaker 1: Damian Lillard on The Old Man and the Three podcast

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Speaker 1: calling out young players while on The Old Man and

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Speaker 1: the Scarlet Food Show. To take us through some of

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Speaker 1: those headlines, plus to get a feel for where the

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Speaker 1: league is heading, we bring in the executive director of

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Speaker 1: the National Basketball Players Association, Tamika Tremalio. Tamica, we got

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Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of stuff to cover here,

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Speaker 1: but I want to talk about John Morant, and there

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Speaker 1: was let's just say it was a judgment in that

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Speaker 1: he made an error and he's trying to correct it.

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Speaker 1: Now what I am going to talk about is that

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Speaker 1: he just signed a deal including I think Coca Cola

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Speaker 1: that you know, there's true. They want to see, you know,

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Speaker 1: what John's going to do and how he's going to

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Speaker 1: correct things. He's trying to make things better, Let's put

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Speaker 1: it that way. No salutely and a gray. First of all,

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Speaker 1: you know, forgive me christ something because I did not

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Speaker 1: say hello to you as well. I know you have

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Speaker 1: your intern in the studio today, and just like at

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Speaker 1: the Union, we're always interested in making sure we're bringing

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Speaker 1: other people up. So I'm delighted to see that we

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Speaker 1: share that same value system. So as you know, At

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Speaker 1: the Union, we are involved with the players both on

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Speaker 1: and off the court, and you know, while I can't

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Speaker 1: comment on specific matters, I think that Jaw has clearly

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Speaker 1: taken ownership of what has occurred. And you know, even

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Speaker 1: companies like Cooke look for authenticity with regards to you know,

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Speaker 1: human beings quite frankly, and I think that Jaw has

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Speaker 1: done what he needed to do in terms of apologizing

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Speaker 1: to the family, teammates, the coaches, of fans and Grizzlies

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Speaker 1: a community. He's also recognized that this is a very

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Speaker 1: human element and that he is human, and that he

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Speaker 1: is now moving in the right direction. And at the

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Speaker 1: Union we're here to support him and to make sure

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Speaker 1: that he makes better decisions going forward. So I think

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Speaker 1: we're all happy about where we are. We also, you know,

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Speaker 1: have mental health doctors here that are assisting our players

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Speaker 1: because it's a really challenging environment with lots of expectations,

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Speaker 1: and so we want to be there to support them

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Speaker 1: even in difficult times. That makes total sense. I wonder

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Speaker 1: what your take is on what Damian Lillard said too,

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Speaker 1: about how sometimes the younger players don't have enough veterans

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Speaker 1: mentoring them from the nbpa's point of view, what could

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Speaker 1: be done or might need to be done when it

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Speaker 1: comes to perhaps pairing up younger players who have a

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Speaker 1: lot to learn still about how to conduct life in

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Speaker 1: the public eye with more experienced players. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: really great question, Scarlet, And to be quite honest, you know,

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Speaker 1: at the Union, we really wrap our arms around them, right.

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Speaker 1: So that includes everything from you know, the time the

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Speaker 1: moments that they start until the moments that the ball

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Speaker 1: stop stribbling for them, right. And first of all, all

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Speaker 1: of our players recognize how important it is to have

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Speaker 1: our veteran players. Every single one of our rookies have

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Speaker 1: had the experience of having someone mentor and guide them,

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Speaker 1: and so they are a critical part of every single team.

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Speaker 1: And so even as we think about, you know, potentially

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Speaker 1: bringing on players at an even younger age, it becomes

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Speaker 1: even more important, right that the veteran players are playing

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Speaker 1: a role and that they're part of the solution. Because

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Speaker 1: what we want to see in the Union is not

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Speaker 1: just that someone is able to enter the league, but

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Speaker 1: that someone's going to be successful in the league. And

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Speaker 1: we know that to be successful you have to have

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Speaker 1: the right mentorship and guidance and speaking of that, and

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Speaker 1: I don't care if it's basketball or it's football or whatever.

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Speaker 1: When a young player comes into the league and they

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Speaker 1: make it to the pros and you've got a boatload

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Speaker 1: of money coming at you, there are two ways you

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Speaker 1: can handle it. One way is be smart about it,

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Speaker 1: listen to your mentors about what's going on. Or you

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Speaker 1: can just you know, throw it all away. And I

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Speaker 1: just wonder the league has been doing a lot to

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Speaker 1: help the young players coming in to handle their money.

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Speaker 1: What do you see down the future with that? So

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Speaker 1: you are correct that that is it's not only is

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Speaker 1: it a tremendous amount of pressure, but it's also something

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Speaker 1: that we really need to be well educated on. And

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Speaker 1: so our Rookie Transition program, which is something that's done

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Speaker 1: along with the NBA, is very much focused on financial literacy.

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Speaker 1: So we spend a significant amount of time with them

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Speaker 1: understanding the value. And as you know, Michael, this is

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Speaker 1: my area of expertise, right, so I'm always focused on

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Speaker 1: sort of how can we make the dollars go further,

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Speaker 1: how can we create generational wealth? And so it it's

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Speaker 1: been critically important that our players understand that their lifespan

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Speaker 1: or expectancy is four point seven years or thereabouts, and

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Speaker 1: so how do you make this last for the long run?

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Speaker 1: Where do you invest it? And so we have not

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Speaker 1: only are we doing this from an educational standpoint, because

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Speaker 1: I know we all appreciate that it's one thing to

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Speaker 1: hear it, it's another thing to see people actually practicing it.

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Speaker 1: And we have people on our executive Committee, our border

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Speaker 1: player reps, etc. Who live these value systems and try

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Speaker 1: to instill them in our players as well. So people

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Speaker 1: like Andre who spend a significant time in investing, etc.

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Speaker 1: He's been a real pillar for our younger players to

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Speaker 1: make sure if they understand finances and that they understand

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Speaker 1: how to make those dollars go much longer. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think especially as younger players come into the league, they

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Speaker 1: now have NIL under their belt too, so their exposure

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Speaker 1: to all that money comes a lot sooner than it

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Speaker 1: used to in years past. Tamika, I want to broaden

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Speaker 1: out our conversation here because the current collective bargaining agreement

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Speaker 1: is going to be coming up soon. It expires after

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Speaker 1: the twenty three to twenty twenty four NBA seasons, So

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Speaker 1: I wanted you to just give us a sense of

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Speaker 1: the mood of the NBPA in terms of players perspectives.

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Speaker 1: Are they happy with how the game is going, how

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Speaker 1: the business of the game is unfolding. What do they

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Speaker 1: think about the game schedules, their salaries, their exposure that

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Speaker 1: they're currently getting. Yeah, so thank you Scarlet for that question,

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Speaker 1: because you are right. It is a very complex issue, right.

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Speaker 1: It is not just salary, It is not just game scheduling.

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Speaker 1: There are so many things. The current collective bargaining agreements

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Speaker 1: over five hundred pages, so it encompasses a lot, and

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Speaker 1: I think people forget that it is not just an

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Speaker 1: economic issue. It's also about their benefits. It's how you

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Speaker 1: know they're protected and how are we being safe. And

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Speaker 1: our players, first of all, are incredibly engaged. So we

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Speaker 1: have an executive committee and we have a board of

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Speaker 1: player reps. Our executive committee is on it. We speak

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Speaker 1: every single day about these topics, particularly because we're coming

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Speaker 1: up on a deadline of March thirty first next week,

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Speaker 1: and so there are lots of things that are coming

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Speaker 1: to the forefront and we are making progress. But as

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Speaker 1: you can imagine that, we are in the heat of it,

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Speaker 1: and so we are working very hard to get it

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Speaker 1: done by that time period. I'm going off the board

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Speaker 1: a little bit here and I'm shifting a little bit,

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Speaker 1: but i want to give a shout out to Willis

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Speaker 1: Reid and he just passed recently, the great Knicks player.

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Speaker 1: And for people who may not be aware of who

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Speaker 1: he is, everybody in New York knows who he is.

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Speaker 1: Anybody in basketball who's who follows it closely knows who

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Speaker 1: he is. Willis Read in the nineteen seventy NBA Finals,

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Speaker 1: It's the Knicks against the Lakers, and Willis Reid he

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Speaker 1: tore a muscle in his leg, and I'm thinking, well,

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Speaker 1: there's no way in the world he's gonna come back out.

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Speaker 1: So here it is Game seven, and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: and I'm watching just as a little boy, I'm like,

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Speaker 1: oh my goodness. Now I'm a native Detroitter, so of

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Speaker 1: course I was running for the Pistons. But you know,

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Speaker 1: if I saw Willis Read, he was he just gutted

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Speaker 1: it out, limping on the He only put up four points,

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Speaker 1: but boy, those four points in the heart and soul

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Speaker 1: that he gave the Knicks, that's what gave the Knicks

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Speaker 1: their first NBA championship and Tamika, I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: give a shout out to willis Read and what you

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Speaker 1: can add to it. Thank you so much. It is

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Speaker 1: so kind of you to mention the captain today in

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Speaker 1: your conversation. You know, he is a legend for certain,

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Speaker 1: he is an icon obviously amongst the Knicks, but I

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Speaker 1: think amongst all of our players. We have done many

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Speaker 1: things to really seeing his praises over the last you know,

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Speaker 1: week or so. But the reality is it's something that

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Speaker 1: lives within all of our players. They see the perseverance

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Speaker 1: and they see the triumph that resulted as a result

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Speaker 1: of all of his hard work. So you know, we

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Speaker 1: we do pay homage to them, and I'm grateful that

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Speaker 1: you took the opportunity to do the same, So thank

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Speaker 1: you very much. Yeah, I mean it's it taught me

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Speaker 1: a lesson as little boy. It's like, you know, and

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Speaker 1: we're kind of talking about this earlier this morning, that

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Speaker 1: you know, when you're out there and maybe your back

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Speaker 1: hurts or you know, and I don't want to go

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Speaker 1: to school and this and that, and then you know,

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Speaker 1: you have your parents say well, let's read two words,

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Speaker 1: and it's like, okay, I'm ready to go and he

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Speaker 1: taught me a lot about heart and just go ahead

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Speaker 1: and do it and gut it out. Scarlet, timeless lessons

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Speaker 1: like our timeless lessons, Tamika, I want to get your

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Speaker 1: take also on how the ownership structure of all professional

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Speaker 1: sports teams is changing. Now we know the NBA was

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Speaker 1: the first who has league to allow private equitfunds to

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Speaker 1: take stakes and its teams, and now it'll allow even

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Speaker 1: more institutional investors to assume passive investments, such as sovereign

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Speaker 1: wealth funds. I'm curious from where you sit what that

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Speaker 1: means for the players. How are they thinking through this

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Speaker 1: or how are you guiding them and thinking through this?

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Speaker 1: How team ownership changes, how the demands on the players

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Speaker 1: might change with a different kind of investors now involved. Yes,

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Speaker 1: a Scarlett, thank you, great question. And first I will

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Speaker 1: just suggest to with regards to Michael, I think when

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Speaker 1: you talk about how you're feeling about the captain, I

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Speaker 1: will also say I tell my boys every single day

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Speaker 1: that resilience is a muscle right, and I think that

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Speaker 1: it's some challenges that we go through to sort of

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Speaker 1: recognize that. So again, thank you for sharing that in Scarlett.

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Speaker 1: With regards to your question, Absolutely, this is a priority.

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Speaker 1: It was clear to me even before I took on

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Speaker 1: this role that was a phenomenal thing that we were

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Speaker 1: seeing private equity enter into this space which historically had

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Speaker 1: not been done. And our players understand it, right and

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Speaker 1: they understand the significance of it and what it means

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Speaker 1: to them. So we've had numerous conversations. As you know,

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Speaker 1: the current collective bargaining agreement does not allow for investment

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Speaker 1: in teams, and so this is something that's a priority

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Speaker 1: for us, is that we are letting, you know, pe

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Speaker 1: firms in something considering as well. So for certain, it's

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Speaker 1: something that is top of mind, and we've seen the

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Speaker 1: value exponential. We don't have a profit sharing program with

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Speaker 1: the NBA, we have a revenue sharing program. So as

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Speaker 1: we think about how can we grow the pie, particularly

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Speaker 1: for our players, this is something that we are obviously

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Speaker 1: exploring as well. Let's talk about something that is a

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Speaker 1: little bit more fun when we talk about basketball and

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Speaker 1: institutional investors. It's not fun. Well you know if you know,

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Speaker 1: But it's got to be the right moment, right, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's got to be there. And but what

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Speaker 1: I just you know, as fans watching basketball. To me,

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Speaker 1: it's the perfect sport because it's about a little over

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Speaker 1: two and a half hours. You can get in, you

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Speaker 1: can get out, you can enjoy the game, beauty, the grace.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, see I'm saying. That's what I'm saying, and

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Speaker 1: you know it's it's Tamka. I just think basketball is

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Speaker 1: the perfect product. And that's why you're not only seeing

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Speaker 1: Basketball Pro Bowl, not just obviously here in the US,

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Speaker 1: but in China and in other countries as well. I agree,

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Speaker 1: it is the perfect sport. I've never heard anyone classify

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Speaker 1: in that way, but I love it and I think

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Speaker 1: that's why I have loved it all my life. And

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Speaker 1: Tomca will use that line from you now, thank you,

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Speaker 1: thank you for letting me borrow it, you know. But

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Speaker 1: following on Michael's point, he brings up a good point,

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Speaker 1: which is basketball is really it shines not just in

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Speaker 1: the United States but around the world. And I mean

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Speaker 1: after international football soccer as we call it here in

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Speaker 1: the US, it is the most popular sport in the world.

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Speaker 1: How do you look at what soccer has done and

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Speaker 1: learn from it, maybe look at some of the best

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Speaker 1: practices that that football. International football has put in place

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Speaker 1: that the NBA the NBPA can implement as well. So

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Speaker 1: you're right. I mean they really have been a role

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Speaker 1: model for how it is done. And as you know,

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Speaker 1: we now have twenty five percent of our players in

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Speaker 1: the NBA our international so we have seen the shift

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Speaker 1: and so that is changing the dynamic for us. We

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Speaker 1: also spend a significant amount of our time look in

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Speaker 1: the global market and looking at expansion there. So whether

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Speaker 1: it is in Africa, as you know, is something that's

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Speaker 1: a priority for the NBA and is a big focus,

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Speaker 1: but in addition just looking at it even for training.

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Speaker 1: So here at the NBPA, we have two international programs

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Speaker 1: that we host every year. One that's in Milan and

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Speaker 1: that's at the Baconi School, which is a top business

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Speaker 1: school in Europe, and we spend time with our players

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Speaker 1: who are interested in entrepreneurship etc. And they spend time

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Speaker 1: in that marketplace with leaders with business titans in that space.

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Speaker 1: And then in Andalusia, Spain, we spend time there from

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Speaker 1: a wellness perspective where we are going through their training

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Speaker 1: facilities and looking at new sports treatments, etc. So it

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Speaker 1: is not only a space that we're looking for expanding

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Speaker 1: the game, but it's a space that we're looking for

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Speaker 1: expanding even our business opportunities as well. I know a

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Speaker 1: lot even the NBA follow this, so I have to

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Speaker 1: bring this up the NC Double A men's brackets. Yes,

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Speaker 1: can I use the phrase? Mine is like shot the hell?

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Speaker 1: Oh can I say that? Oh? Well, I just did,

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Speaker 1: and I mean, but it is exciting to watch. I

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Speaker 1: bring it up because there is a young man for

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Speaker 1: the Purdue boiler Makers, Zach Eaty, and he is seven four,

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Speaker 1: three hundred pounds and I saw him take the basketball.

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Speaker 1: It looked like an orange in his hand. And that

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Speaker 1: young man, it's no question to me that he's going

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Speaker 1: to make it in the pros. And just wanted your

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Speaker 1: thoughts about that young man. Unfortunately, Purdue got eliminated right

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Speaker 1: in round one, but I think he's gonna make it

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Speaker 1: and just continue on. In general, I have certainly enjoyed

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Speaker 1: watching the tournament. And he's a great player. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, he's incredibly to all these very skilled you know,

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Speaker 1: I don't know what his future will be, but I'm

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Speaker 1: excited and enjoy watching how much he is enjoying the game.

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Speaker 1: Quite frankly, in the competition, Jamica you have been so

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Speaker 1: kind and I just want to take the time out.

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Speaker 1: I know, see we only said ten minutes and then

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Speaker 1: I get to just, you know, blabb and I apologize.

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Speaker 1: So Jamica Tamalio. She is the executive director of the

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Speaker 1: National Basketball Players Association. You are so kind to join us.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for talking with us on the Bloomberg Business

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Speaker 1: of Sports. Thank you, Michael. I'm Scarlett. I really appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much. You are listening to the Bloomberg Business

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Speaker 1: of Sports podcast, where we explore some of the big

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Speaker 1: old money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael

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Speaker 1: barn I'm Scarlett poe. Hey. By the way, you can

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Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at Big Bar Sports and you

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Speaker 1: can follow me on Twitter at Scarlett Pooh. You are

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Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around

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Speaker 1: the world. Zero