Call Me After the NBA Trade Deadline
Working in the NBA
It’s Tuesday afternoon and I’m working alongside Mike Visenberg at a coffee shop when my phone rings. It’s Ruth Kaiser of the Milwaukee Bucks. I hesitated because I was in the middle of a project but then I picked up and we talked for the next 30 minutes.
When you are looking to connect with someone who used to work in the NBA, you can usually set a timeframe for the call. When you are looking to connect with someone who currently works in the NBA (or basketball in general), you are at their leisure.
Ruth first reached out to me several years ago via LinkedIn to set up a phone call. It may have been around 6 months before we actually got on the phone. And we have spoken every several months since. She went on to work for the Miami Heat and currently is with the Bucks.
When you reach out to someone in the NBA and they tell you they’ll call you or want to connect, they’re likely being honest. But the odds of them actually connecting are much smaller. The NBA season is made up of sprint after sprint after sprint. And many people will let you know that you can connect when the sprint is over.
But then there’s another sprint.
And then they want a break.
And then back to sprinting.
The weeks leading up to the Trade Deadline are a buzz. There’s no time to do anything outside of keep up with the season and prepare for the deadline. As messages pour in, with good intentions, you tell people to reach out to you after the Trade Deadline.
After the Trade Deadline, your intentions are to get back to people but that seems overwhelming and you just want to take an actual break for All-Star break. You come back to the office and there is a little craziness getting things back in order before diving into March Madness. “Let’s chat after the Tourney.” But then as the tourney wraps up, you’re geared in for either the end of your season or prepping for the Playoffs. “Let’s chat after the season.” But then when the season ends, you might get a couple of days break and then are told to be ready to go full throttle through the Draft. “Let’s catch up after the Draft.” And the Draft comes and then Free Agency and all of a sudden you’re at Summer League. “Let’s catch up at Summer League.”
All this to say, it’s hard to get someone on the phone. Try not to feel rejected if someone doesn’t get back to you. But be available for when they call. If Ruth was working a normal job, I probably would have texted her, ‘call you back in 30,’ but knowing she’s in the world of basketball, I dropped my project and picked up the phone.