Bronny James, JJ Redick, & the Importance of Relationships in Sports

The newest Laker player and coach are proof that sometimes in basketball it matters who you know just as much as what you know, and that’s okay

When I was 19 years old, I traveled to Jordan to visit my family. I was a freshman in college pursuing my marketing degree. As a good exercise for my studies, my father (who is an interior designer) set me up with a client of his that was looking to create a shared workspace concept. Think WeWork but without the toxic Silicon Valley energy. I was relatively unqualified at the moment to write up a marketing plan for them, but I got the chance to do so because my father had relationships in place, and I was afforded that opportunity.

I never knew what became of the project and I am pretty sure that my marketing plan was decent but had a lot of room for improvement. I realize this opportunity could have been viewed as nepotism. Nepotism has been in the headlines of the sports world lately regarding the Los Angeles Lakers, their signing of Bronny James and the hiring of JJ Redick as their head coach. The Lakers, and more specifically LeBron James, are doing what we have seen done across all industries (sports included) for years: leverage their influence. It just seems that in this instance we suddenly have a problem with it.