Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images
It wasn’t easy to see a basketball waterbug limp. Jamila Wideman once put the “fast” in fastbreak — until her arthritic big toes forced her prematurely out of the WNBA and into a heady career as an attorney for the Equal Justice Initiative and Civil Division of The Legal Aid Society.
As much as she mourned basketball, the legal work was near and dear to her considering the plights of her uncle and brother, who each had previously faced well-publicized murder charges. Her job, she said, was to step in when “people were at one of the worst moments of their lives, either poised to be evicted or poised to be executed … to learn about their life experience … and craft a narrative that could reconstitute them as viable, worthy human beings in front of the judge or in front of the jury.”
As rewarding as that job was — “Fundamentally, a search for humanity,” she says — she ached for a return to basketball in some form. In 2018, she joined the NBA, preparing players and ex-players for life after basketball while also spearheading the league’s mental health and wellness platform, Mind Health.
From the NBA’s Rookie Transition Program to an Assistant Coaches Program that provides a path to coaching opportunities, Wideman dishes out assists the way she did as a point guard at Stanford and with the L.A. Sparks.
“I never would have imagined I would have re-entered the sport in this way,” Wideman said. “I didn’t even know that a role like this existed. I stayed away from the game just long enough to grieve what I missed as a player. And so, for me, this job becoming a reality was a way to come back home in some ways. Maybe the career I had was meant to prepare me to be in the position I’m in now. If that’s the case, I’ll take it. I wouldn’t give anything back.” — Tom Friend
Jamila Wideman
Senior Vice President and Head of Player Development, National Basketball Association
Born: Denver
Education: Stanford University, B.A., political science and African-American studies; New York University, J.D.
Family: Child, Teya DeCarlo (7)
More about Jamila
Something that instantly makes my day better: Sausage (of all kinds and from all kinds of traditions).
Advice to my younger self: Hold onto and forever cultivate your curiosity, imagination, and humility. They are the most important tools you’ve got.
If I did not work in sports, I would be in … : (1) Architecture and design. I would want to make things with my hands — buildings, furniture, ideas; (2) Sailing captain.
I wish more people understood that … : I am not a “former athlete” who has transitioned to become something else. The things that made me want to play sports and that animated my participation are as core to my being as the air I breathe — and are as awake and alive.
Proudest professional achievement: Watching the incredible talent of the team I lead thrive and being a part of a professional collective whose focus is on ensuring professional athletes are seen as human beings first and foremost ahead of their athletic talent and performance.
