The Game Plan

President of the NBA G League and 12-year NBA Veteran Shareef Abdur-Rahim join Tim and Jay on this week's episode of The Game Plan to discuss his journey from pro athlete to league executive. This episode places a special focus on the evolution of the NBA G League over the past decade including:

🏗 Strengthening League Structure;  realignment with NBA markets and team owners

🔁Two-way contracts; enabling a greater development capacity for NBA teams

🇲🇽Mexico City; the G League's expansion into a foreign market

✨G League Ignite; the G League's select team for high school graduates

In addition to going deep on the evolution of the NBA G League we also break down our guest's transition from pro athlete to league executive which included six years with the Sacramento Kings as both a coach and front office executive. Following his team roles, our guest went on to get his MBA at USC Marshall School of Business where he also interned for the NBA League Office. Our guest shares his perspective as to what it was like being a 6'9" former NBA All-Star turned intern.

Beyond his role as NBA G League President, Shareef Abdur-Rahim is best known for his career on the basketball court including 12 years in the NBA where he logged service time with the Vancouver Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trailblazers and Sacramento Kings.

In high school, Abdur-Rahim was a First Team Parade All-American and 2x Mr. Georgia Basketball, which led him to eventually star for the Cal Golden Bears as a First-team All-Pac-10 honoree. After freshman year of college, our guest declared for the NBA draft where he was the third overall pick of the vaunted 1996 NBA draft class featuring future Basketball Hall of Famers Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, and Steve Nash.

You can follow Shareef Abdur-Rahim on Twitter @ShareefAbdur_R as well as the NBA G League on Twitter and Instagram @nbagleague.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

This week former NFLPA President, Eric Winston, joins The Game Plan to give listeners a peek behind the curtain on the most recent NFL CBA negotiation. Winston is an 11-year NFL veteran where he is best known on the field for his role as an offensive tackle for the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Arizona Cardinals, and Cincinnati Bengals.

Winston served as President of the NFLPA from 2014-2020 where he played a critical role in negotiations with the NFL around player health and safety, financial literacy, and workplace conditions, especially in the locker room. Most recently, Winston wrapped up his role as President of the NFLPA with the successful negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement that is set to run through 2030.

Our guest now holds the role of Chief Partnerships Officer at OneTeam, a group jointly founded by the NFLPA, MLBPA, and RedBird Capital Partners. OneTeam manages the commercial licensing rights of athletes across a diverse cross-section of properties, creates new marketing opportunities through its Athlete Marketing business, and generates unique deal flow and investment opportunities through its Venture Investment capabilities.

In this episode, we explore what went into developing the recently agreed upon CBA, and how our guest was able to manage the voices and needs of over 2,000 players to help bring labor peace to the NFL for the next decade.

Our guest also shares the key things from his playing career that have made the biggest impact on his work off the field, and helps us understand the things OneTeam is doing to help empower professional athletes around the world. Listeners won't want to miss our discussion around the early visibility the NFLPA and OneTeam had to Unicorns like Uber, Slack, and DocuSign

You can follow Eric Winston on Twitter @EricWinston and visit https://joinoneteam.com/ to learn more about OneTeam Partners.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

In our most raw and emotional episode of The Game Plan yet, former Major League Baseball player Chris Dickerson shares his perspective with Tim and Jay on the many things plaguing our world right now including climate change and the fight against racism and social injustice.

Dickerson put in service time as an outfielder for five different Major League clubs including the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, and Cleveland Indians, but is best known off the field for starting "Players for the Planet", a non-profit organization launched in 2011 to make sustainability and environmental responsibility foundational values of sport.

In this episode our guest shares his perspective on the catastrophic effects things like single-use plastics and e-waste are having on our planet, and how you as a listener can help affect change through better daily habits and awareness.

We also explore how the issue of climate change is connected with the social injustices that are currently in the national spotlight, and our guest shares his perspective on the recent player strikes across professional sports leagues.

You can follow Chris Dickerson on Twitter and Instagram, as well as Players for the Planet to follow everything Chris is up to and to see how you can get involved in the fight against climate change.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

Former Major League Baseball player Brendan Harris joins Jay and Tim to discuss his role with X10 Capital, a private equity fund that provides athletes with the ability to start tapping into future earnings today.

X10 Capital is headquartered in San Francisco and led by former professional athletes, pro scouts, GMs, global executives, professional investors, and data scientists. We discuss the X10 Capital model and why it makes sense for superstar athletes to partner with a private equity fund early in their careers.

On this episode, Harris takes us through his decision to go to business school shortly after his playing career came to an end, and what the transition was like going from sharing a locker room with players like Mike Trout and Joe Mauer to sharing a classroom with business executives. Harris shares great advice for other pro athletes making the transition into life after sport, including the idea that making high-stress decisions on the field for years can indeed translate to the boardroom.

Listeners won't want to miss our guest's story about getting into Wharton's Executive MBA program and scrambling to fulfill the program's job requirement. The result was not your ordinary business executive role.

To keep up to date on everything Brendan is up to you can follow him on both Twitter (@BrendanHarris23) and Instagram (@b.harris_23). Listeners can also check out X10 Capital at https://www.x10capital.net/

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

You can also follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

This episode of The Game Plan features Dan Kennedy, former Major League Soccer goalkeeper turned real estate investor.

Dan is now Managing Partner at Driven Capital Partners in Long Beach, CA where he focuses on commercial real estate development and property management, working with other professional athletes to help them generate a passive income that will pay off well beyond the prime of their career.

We start this episode by exploring the evolution of Major League Soccer and the role that rapid league expansion has played over the years. Dan shares his perspective as a player in the pivotal years of MLS, including tense moments as a member of the executive board of the MLS Player’s Association.

Dan also talks about his transition from a career as a professional soccer player into a business professional, and the role business school played in helping him find his way in life beyond the pitch. We discuss his front office role with the LA Galaxy, and why he ultimately decided to change things up and pursue a career in commercial real estate development.

Listeners won’t want to miss Dan’s candid point of view on what every professional athlete should be doing with their money (that most aren’t doing today). Special thanks to Tim’s former colleague Andrew Hayes for making the introduction to our guest.

Be sure to follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram (@1DanKennedy) to keep up with everything he is doing today, as well as his investment group’s website: https://www.drivencap.com.

If there is a guest you’d like to see join us on a future episode of The Game Plan please follow and reach out to co-hosts Jay Kapoor  (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt)  on Twitter!

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news & updates, as well as bonus content!

US Rugby legend and CEO of the New England Free Jacks, Alex Magleby, joins The Game Plan to give listeners an in-depth look at the state of rugby in the US and where the game goes from here.

On this episode our guest shines a light on the history of rugby coming to the US and shares what drew him to the game at a young age. After sustained success on the field, including three national championships at Dartmouth, our guest went on to drastically improve the US Men's National Rugby Team as head coach.

We also explore the growth of rugby in the US and how CoVid has impacted Major League Rugby. This conversation includes a discussion around the role of athlete as investor as our guest describes what it's like to have NFL players Nate Ebner & Patrick Chung as investors in the Free Jacks. Listeners will enjoy hearing about how the Free Jacks are being built as a community-first franchise.

Follow Alex on Twitter and Instagram to stay up on all of his latest news, and be sure to check out the New England Free Jacks at https://www.freejacks.com/.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

You can also follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

SaaS investor and former NFL linebacker Stewart Bradley joins The Game Plan to share his life journey and evolution from football player to sophisticated tech investor.

Shortly after his seven-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, and Denver Broncos came to an end, our guest chose a different path; joining Goldman Sachs as an investment banking analyst in their esteemed technology media and telecom (TMT) group. Stew shares with us his decision process in choosing this path, and why he ultimately opted to go into banking versus pursuing an MBA.

Today, our guest is General Partner and Co-Founder of El Cap holdings where he is carving a unique path in the crowed software investment landscape. Stew shares with us the currency, beyond capital, with which he is building the fund. We also explore his investment thesis and the types of companies he looks to back.

Seasoned investors familiar with enterprise software and the SaaS landscape will especially appreciate what Stewart has to say about investing in "opinionated software products".

We also discuss the power of effort and focus and how these two attributes over the long term have helped lead our guest to success both on and off the football field.

Learn more about Stewart Bradley's investment approach by visiting El Cap Holding's website at https://www.elcapholdings.com/ or emailing [email protected].

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

You can also follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

TV personality and NFL alum Dhani Jones joins The Game Plan to share his perspective on all things media, technology, and storytelling.

Dhani Jones played 11 years as a linebacker in the NFL, including time with the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and Cincinnati Bengals. During his NFL career, Dhani became the first active player to be featured on the NFL Network as an analyst. Dhani details those early days of the NFL Network where he did everything from interviewing players on the sideline of playoff games to helping pack up the cable truck after games.

In addition to his work as a football player and football analyst, our guest became a household name through his television work as the host of the Travel Channel's "Dhani Tackles the Globe" and CNBC's "Adventure Capitalists". Dhani shares the story of what it was like to work for two well-known companies in Cincinnati (the Cincinnati Bengals and Scripps Networks) at the same time, and how a run-in with Bengal's owner Mike Brown in the team cafeteria led Dhani to play some of the best football of his career.

Other topics included on this episode include how a Montessori education as a kid helped fuel Dhani's curiosity today, and how the desire to go out and do something is the most important attribute someone can have on their way to becoming an entrepreneur.

Today, Dhani is Chairman of QEY Capital, an investment group he founded with fellow University of Michigan alum and Goldman Sachs veteran Ebow Ivory Vroom.

You can follow Dhani Jones on Twitter and Instagram for all of his latest interests and activities off the field. Visit https://qeycapital.com/ to find out more about Dhani's approach to investing.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

Former international soccer player, Stanford alum, and media entrepreneur Haley Rosen joins The Game Plan to discuss her journey which started with her as one of the top soccer recruits in the country to where she is today as Founder of Just Women's Sports.

On this episode, our guest shares how a realization that just 4% of sports coverage is dedicated to women's sports led her to pave her own entrepreneurial path. We dig into the launch of Just Women's Sports and how our guest plans to carve out a niche in a world saturated with sports content, but short on women's coverage. This includes the details of her fundraising journey. We also discuss what it's like to launch a sports-focused business in the midst of a global pandemic where almost all sports have come to a grinding halt.

Haley touches on her playing career where she details the shocking differences between being an amateur athlete at one of the top college athletic programs to joining a lower league futbol club in Europe. We explore what led her to ultimately give up on her professional playing career, a reality many of our listeners will empathize with.

Make sure to follow Just Women's Sports on Twitter and to sign up for the newsletter at https://www.justwomenssports.com.

Special thanks to Milos Ribic for making the introduction to Haley, as well as to our producer Will Richardson who edited this episode.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

Pat Connaughton, Small Forward for the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks, joins Tim and Jay on The Game Plan live from a job site(!!) in Milwaukee as he prepares for the NBA to restart at the end of this month.

In this episode, we explore Pat's foray into real estate development, and how he is turning heads around the NBA not just for his explosive vertical on the court, but also the path to wealth he is building outside the game.

Pat goes deep on the real estate investment and development expertise he has gained over the years; a passion he first found as a kid growing up outside of Boston where he joined his dad on various job sites.

We uncover how Pat has leveraged his platform as an NBA athlete and Notre Dame alum to unlock opportunities not otherwise available to the general public.

We also touch on the NBA restart and what our guest has been doing to stay in game shape throughout the global pandemic.

Listeners will find it interesting how Pat, a two-sport athlete in college, ultimately decided to pursue a career in the NBA versus trying his hand at baseball, where he was drafted in the 4th round of the 2014 MLB draft as a pitcher.

Make sure to follow Pat Connaughton on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with his latest efforts.

Listeners can also check out his feature in The New York Times from earlier this year.

Special thanks to Friend of the Pod, JJ Redick, for making the introduction to Pat, as well as to our producer Will Richardson who edited this episode.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!