Menu
People and Pop Culture

The Sit-Down: Michele Roberts, NBPA

The head of the basketball union discusses her connection to the sport and its players, what NBA players wanted to know before hiring her, and an important contract in her life — one with her mother.

I have been a basketball fan for a long time, but I came here in a different way. I’ve never played basketball; in fact, I cannot play basketball. But I have known African-American and Hispanic young men that wanted to very much be a part of this world, including my two older brothers.

We had one television, and so I watched a lot of Knicks basketball games growing up, and I actually discovered that I loved the stories that the players had in their background. Many of them shared my background, and I understood at a very young age that they work very hard to make it in the NBA.

Photo by: MARC BRYAN-BROWN
The minute that I learned that there was a need for help, because of the circumstances that led to my predecessor’s ouster, I just could not stop thinking about how I wanted to be part of that rebuilding.

One of the things that I learned early on was that these guys are super smart. And they really do care about the union, so I knew they were not going to be interested in B.S.

I told them what I thought was wrong. I let them know that if they were looking for someone to simply run their union for them that that was not my interest.  

I told them that if they asked, we’d talk about this “girl” thing. And we did. And it’s a fair point that one day, it should not be an issue, but today, it is an issue. And I so wanted to make sure that we talked about it. And we did.

The question that I got asked pretty often was, “Well, Michele, you might find yourself in a meeting, and you’ll be the only woman there. You might be the only black woman there. What are you going to do?” And I said, “What do you think I’ve been doing for the last 25 years of my life?”

[My mother] was really a no-nonsense kind of girl. She was clear that our poverty, our race, and for me my sex was not going to be an excuse to fail. And obviously she herself was not a successful woman — she, my mom, never graduated from high school — but she, for some reason, and I don’t know where she got it from, said that that was not going to be repeated.

She was very clear with us: I will feed you, I will clothe you, I will keep you safe, but if you come in my house with anything less than an A, then you have to deal with me. And so, that seemed fair.

Oh, yeah, I got all A’s.

I think we have come a long way in terms of the public perception of athletes. I remember very vividly when every word out of someone’s mouth when they described an NBA player would be “a thug.” Thankfully, we’ve gone beyond that. I think our players are now regarded in a much better light.

Having said that, there’s still a ways to go, and one of the things that I firmly believe we need to continue to do is to correct the narrative. If there is any lingering mindset that these men and women have not earned their achievements, I plan to make sure to give a real good chewing for my players, because they have earned what is an incredible place in their sport.

I would much rather have a phone call from someone who is telling me, “I want counseling,” as opposed to a phone call from the police officer saying, “One of your guys is being arrested.” So I think we need to think about both at the same time … but let’s spend as much time trying to figure out ways to avoid getting there in the first place.

I have not had extensive conversations with [NBA Commissioner Adam Silver], but I’ve been very impressed with him. He strikes me as a grown-up, which is useful. I think it’s going to be fun. I like him a lot.

I always understood who my client was and that my opponent had a client and we had interests and sometimes they didn’t necessarily mesh. But you figure out what the common ground is and you try to get there, and then you try to figure out what you don’t agree on and see if you can resolve it. And then if you can’t, then you agree to agree that you’re not going to, and then you use your leverage. But we don’t have to be enemies, right?

I’m putting together my senior management team; my team of gladiators. That’s my term.

We are doing a lot of hiring, because the work we do is important and we need to have enough people to do it. So my directive has been to get some help.

I’ve already had meetings with agents, and I’ve found them very useful and I think they have as well. They told me they needed to believe that I would at least listen, and that’s easy. In my business, we call that discovery.

I’ve been reading the last three CBAs and just trying to understand frankly what the relationship has been on the negotiation side between the league and the union. … Both in the NBA and other sports as well, the management has been doing pretty well. But that was yesterday. I’m not drawing any lines. I’m just saying we’re getting ready for our future discussions.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2014/10/20/People-and-Pop-Culture/The-Sit-Down.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2014/10/20/People-and-Pop-Culture/The-Sit-Down.aspx

CLOSE