Jon Swartz of the USA TODAY recently wrote an article titled, Kevin Durant takes a shot at the cloud, the latest NBA play for tech returns. Therein, Swartz wrote that, these days, if an NBA player is making big money, he would rather put that money to work through investments (especially in tech) as opposed to seeking one-off endorsement deals.
Darren Heitner of HEITNER LEGAL provided some commentary.
“Players train together and, increasingly, invest together,” says Darren Heitner, a sports attorney in in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who represents NBA players such as Draymond Green and Iman Shumpert. He credits Chris Bosh, who studied engineering at Georgia Tech; Anthony and Iguodala as those at the forefront of tech investing in the tightly-knit NBA community.
“By and large, players in the NBA are able to vastly improve financial situations with guaranteed, multimillion-dollar contracts” courtesy of a record $2.6 billion TV deal, Heitner says. “Rather than get paid in one-off endorsement deals, they’re leveraging investment opportunities for longer-term security.”
In the tightly-knit NBA community, with fewer players than in the NFL and Major League Baseball, athletes tend to train together and share advice, according to Heitner.