NBA Holds Second Year Of Its Business Mentorship Program

In the summer of 2022, Norense Odiase was among the inaugural members of the NBA’s Business Mentorship Program. He spent that time serving as an account executive at Amazon while also getting the chance to host his own podcast, the Mind Bully Podcast.

It was an overwhelmingly positive experience for him. So when the opportunity to return for a second year came about, the decision was a no-brainer.

“For me, it's like, I would be an idiot not to take advantage of it and take advantage of it with people that actually care about my development,” Odiase said.

Odiase was one of eleven current G Leaguers that took part in this year’s iteration of the program, which was again organized by NBA Player Development and ran over the course of six months from April to October. Like its first year, the goal was to provide those players with the resources they need to develop their business acumen and pursue opportunities off the court through speaker sessions, in-person touchpoints and much more. 

“They've helped me in so many different tangible ways that I can't even really express,” Odiase said.

Much like Odiase, joining the program was an opportunity Long Island Nets guard Keifer Sykes wasn’t about to pass up. Sykes currently runs his own foundation, the Free 10 Foundation, which provides resources for children affected by gun violence and mass incarceration, and also recently had a documentary titled Chi-Town about his basketball journey released.

Expanding his opportunities in his professional life is something Sykes is always striving to do, and he felt the program provided exactly that.

“I was always interested in doing off-the-court ventures and learning about business,” Sykes said. “I finished school and got my degree so I'm always trying to just further that as much as I can outside of basketball.”

Odiase has also gotten involved in his fair share of opportunities away from the court. So far this year, he partnered with his alma mater Texas Tech to host a live podcast at home football games and also secured a sponsorship deal with Whataburger in the process. 

“There's so many players that would ask me ‘how’d you do that’ or 'how’d you get this job,’” Odiase said. “And I'm like, ‘bro, this program.’”

Throughout the entire process, each player was paired with an established mentor that helped them learn the ins and outs of the business world. While Odiase was paired with Tony Biancosino of content studio Animals & Co., Sykes teamed up with Kevin Carr, a former executive with the NBA and founder of business development firm PRO2CEO.

Sykes and Carr developed a strong bond during the program. He credited Carr with helping to get him in rooms with the kinds of people he needed to build up knowledge and also develop healthy habits. As Sykes pointed out, trying to juggle basketball, life and business can be difficult to handle solo, therefore any and all help goes a long way. 

“Someone to lean on, someone to help navigate finding the right questions to ask people that’s been through trial and error and that can point you in the right direction, that's everything for us as athletes,” Sykes said.

Odiase also gave plenty of credit to Biancosino, who he said was instrumental in helping him better understand how to craft content for his podcasts and give him perspective from the media side of things.

“Just having somebody that I know that I can reach out to was beneficial to me,” Odiase said.

Along with helping to build out their networks in the business world, the players participated in monthly workshops that revolved around entrepreneurship and personal development. Among the topics discussed included understanding your business, business forecasting, and discussions around the various methods of financing a business. During the program close, The Grand, a coaching and professional development platform, led players through exercises that were geared towards helping the players evaluate different aspects of their lives. From physical and spiritual well-being to financial standing, everyone was able to measure their levels of satisfaction in those areas.

For professional athletes, maintaining balance both on the court and off of it is always a major key to success. Ensuring that remains the case in everything he does is something Sykes places a strong emphasis on.

“How you perform with your family, how you perform with your kids, how you perform in your downtime as well,” Sykes said. “If you take care of yourself in a healthy way, those things help your output.” 

Odiase, who already places a strong emphasis on journaling in his daily life to express his thinking, added that those aforementioned exercises, along with others like it such as The Grand Assessment, really made him continue to break down those major pillars of his life. 

“It gave me a kind of enhanced focus on the areas that I need to afford more time into,” Odiase said. 

The program officially wrapped on Oct. 11 with a gathering at NBA headquarters in New York City. Along with touring the office and meeting with various guest speakers from the business world, players also got the chance to interact with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, and NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim.    

Both Sykes and Odiase appreciated the hands-on investment that was shown during the whole process. The closing gathering only reaffirmed that level of commitment from the league. 

“When you can have Adam Silver and Mark Tatum come and spend over an hour with you because you got in the program and understand what you're doing and what you're trying to build, it's huge,” Odiase said.

It’s support that can serve dividends for the future, and something both Sykes and Odiase believe more fellow G Leaguers should take advantage of.

“Even if you're not sure what you want to do after or what you're trying to get into, just learn and grow and continue to expand,” Sykes said. “Having a mentor is one of the best things you could do in life. It prevents a lot of trial and error and it prevents a lot of mistakes on the journey.”

“Use all the resources,” Odiase said. “This is a resource. This is a resource that will help you without even thinking that it'll help you.”