The amount of money paid to National Basketball Players Association employees has increased by more than 40 percent in the last year, according to the union’s annual financial report.
The NBPA paid $9.852 million in gross salary and $10.946 million in total disbursements to employees in the fiscal year ended June 30, according to the report, which is filed with the U.S. Department of Labor and known as an LM-2. That compares with $6.842 million in gross salary and $7.7 million in total employee disbursements for the NBPA’s fiscal 2015. Gross salary increased by 44 percent and total disbursements increased by 42 percent year over year, according to the report.
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NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts earned $1.2 million in fiscal 2016.
Photo by: MARC BRYAN-BROWN
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The NBPA declined to comment on the reasons for the increase or for this story.
The amounts reflect the first full year of employee spending under Michele Roberts, who was elected NBPA executive director in July 2014 and took the helm of the union a couple of months later. She earned $1.2 million in fiscal 2016, which has been her annual salary for the last two years. Her salary for fiscal 2015, reflecting about nine months on the job, was reported as $923,077.
Since Roberts took over, she has expanded the staff of the NBPA. Sixty-five employees, including 12 former employees, were paid by the union in fiscal 2016. That is up from 51 employees, including eight former employees, who received payments in fiscal 2015.
Roberts made several hires for newly created positions during fiscal 2015, and their full annual salaries hit the balance sheet in 2016. Jordan Schlachter, announced in January 2015 as the union’s first chief marketing officer, had a gross salary of $398,846 in fiscal 2016, according to the report. Joe Rogowski, hired to the new position of director of physiology and research, was paid a salary of $297,692 in the last fiscal year.
Other top-earning executives included general counsel Gary Kohlman, deputy executive director Roger Mason Jr. and chief financial officer Gary Arrick (see chart).
Several of Roberts’ hires have left the union, and salaries for both the former employees and their replacements are reflected in the report. Among them:
| Employee, Title |
Gross Salary Disbursements (Before Deductions) |
| Michele Roberts, executive director |
$1,200,000 |
| Gary Kohlman, general counsel |
$540,000 |
| Roger Mason Jr., deputy executive director |
$538,992 |
| Gary Arrick, chief financial officer |
$538,923 |
| Jordan Schlachter, chief marketing officer |
$398,846 |
| Ron Klempner, counsel |
$388,077 |
| Joe Rogowski, director of physiology and research |
$297,692 |
| Nicholas Daniel-Richards, chief digital officer |
$250,000 |
Source: U.S. Department of Labor LM-2 report
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Former NFL Players Association President Domonique Foxworth, who was NBPA chief operating officer for less than a year, ending in October 2015, was paid $196,635 in fiscal 2015 and $119,144 in 2016. His replacement, Erica McKinley, earned $228,846 in 2016.
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Evie Goldstein, the former Women’s National Basketball Players Association director of operations, left in December 2015, also after less than a year. She was paid $53,846 in fiscal 2015 and $99,049 in 2016. Her replacement, Terri Jackson, started in May and was paid $16,827 during the 2016 period.
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Walter Palmer, the former director of international relations, earned $290,769 in fiscal 2015 and $89,363 in 2016. It is not clear exactly when Palmer left, but he was listed as a former employee in the 2015 report. Palmer’s replacement, Matteo Zuretti, earned $214,615 in 2016.
The 2016 report contained a note saying, “Salaries for certain former employees include amounts paid to them under a separation agreement.” It was not clear which former executives had signed a separation agreement or what the terms of those agreements might be.
Total assets at the end of the 2016 reporting period were $171,283,817, down from $176,385,706. Total liabilities were $77,003,136, down from $81,840,642.
