Youngest, Most Successful NBA Agent, is Proud of Persian Heritage
Independent Aggregator of Iran-related News/Events, Kodoom.com: According to Forbes, the youngest agent in NBA (National Basketball Association) history has one of the largest impacts on the sport. Nima Namakian is the youngest agent in NBA history to represent a No. 1 overall pick (2018's DeAndre Ayton). Impressive, but the story gets even better: He is the the proud son of Persian immigrants who moved from Iran to the U.S. as teenagers — without their parents — in the 1970s.
The Iranian American Namakian, a NBPA Certified Player Agent, has represented four of the top 15 draft picks (Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine, Detroit Pistons forward Stanley Johnson and Washington Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr. in addition to Ayton, a Phoenix Suns center) in the last five NBA Drafts.
Namakian was born in Los Angeles and raised in Encino, California. He graduated cum laude from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Business Administration. After graduating from LMU, he began working as an intern at BDA Sports. "I didn’t have a typical introduction to the industry for the career I was pursuing," says Namakian. "No existing high-level relationships. I wasn’t a player’s best friend, an executive’s relative, or given any privileged treatment. Instead, I started from the bottom and wanted to learn every level of the business from the ground up. I wanted to have experience in every facet of the business."
While at BDA, Namakian worked in both the marketing and public relations departments early on. After a few years, he moved over to the management side of the business learning the many nuances of the agent industry from one of its pioneers, Bill Duffy, the chairman and CEO of BDA. He gained his certification by the NBPA and shortly thereafter signed his first client, LaVine. While working full time, he attended Southwestern Law School’s part-time program, graduating in 2015.
Namakian was strongly inspired by his Iranian parents: "I watched my parents adapt to their environment despite the many biases they were met with. They both worked full-time jobs and made sure to be very involved in our everyday lives and always put our family first," he says. "They sacrificed, provided an incredible foundation and an impenetrable support system. They always stressed treating everyone, regardless of background, with equal respect, having a strong work ethic, building and maintaining relationships, giving back to the community and the importance of family. Those morals and ethics are ingrained in my DNA."
This year, Namakian negotiated a four-year, $78 million fully guaranteed contract that ended up keeping LaVine in Chicago. LaVine hopes to be the face of both the Bulls and Adidas.
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