NBA Business: Black Sports Agents Take Center Stage

There have been a lot of reports lately about minorities in sports, and in particular the NBA. There was the infamous report on referee bias, and then the positive report on black hirings within the NBA. But where blacks in the NBA are really starting to take center stage is within the profession of sports management.

In this year's draft three prominent African American agents have signed most of the top lottery talent. Those three agents are Aaron Goodwin, Bill Duffy, and Bill Strickland. Duffy and Goodwin have emerged over the last ten to fifteen years, while Strickland is an old veteran who recently decided to jump back in the game.

Since 1998, Duffy and Aaron Goodwin have represented four of the possible nine number one overall draft picks (Goodwin with LeBron James in 03 and Dwight Howard in 04 and Duffy with Michael Olowokandi in 98 and Yao Ming in 02). This season, either Goodwin or Duffy will again be associated with the number one overall pick, as Goodwin is representing University of Texas all-world prospect Kevin Durant, and Duffy (in conjunction with Mike Conley Sr.) is helping to represent Ohio State standout Greg Oden. Goodwin is also representing sure fire top five pick Al Horford in this year's draft.

After years of taking a step back from the representation business (only representing a handful of NBA clients), Bill Strickland has decided to fully step back in. In conjunction with old partner Donald Dell, Strickland is representing future top ten picks Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer in this year's draft.

Other prominent black agents, such as Henry Thomas (see: Dwyane Wade's recent emergence as a Madison Ave. darling) are also making names for themselves.

As a young black male that plans on working within the business of sports one day, it's a pleasure to see all of these African American males blazing trails within the industry. Hopefully this positive trend continues, and we continue to see more and more African Americans rise up and become successful sports businessmen.