Daveed Cohen wants the sports agency industry to improve in the areas of diversity and inclusion.
No one would expect a child from Brazil, adopted by a family and raised in Sante Fe, New Mexico, to become vice president of basketball operations and brand partnerships for Young Money APAA Sports. The sports agency was co-founded by Grammy Award-winning CEO of Young Money Entertainment Dwayne “Lil Wayne” Carter and Adie Von Gontard, whose great-grandfather founded Anheuser-Busch and whose grandfather owned the St. Louis Cardinals.
However, to the amazement of those unfamiliar with Daveed Cohen’s journey, he actually lived up to his boss’ words: “I’m blessed and I thank God for every day, for everything that happens to me.”
Cohen grew up playing sports, specifically basketball, and traveled to basketball fields with his father. For college, he enrolled at the University of Arizona. He worked closely with the school’s basketball team, as well as within the athletics department, selling tickets to upcoming games.
“I was passionate about sports and being part of the sporting side. But for me it’s always been about how I can be at the intersection of sports and business,” says the 34-year-old, who will celebrate his birthday in November.
After graduating with a degree in Marketing Communications, he landed a job at Impact Basketball, a player training and development center that NBA pre-draft wannabes attend, many of whom have gone on to successful sports careers in the league.
“All the old guys in the NBA came to train with the legendary head coach Joe Abunassar. I was on Impact for a while and got to be around a ton of NBA players,” recalls Cohen, who was primarily on the player development side. .
He made it easier for athletes to train and acquired a wealth of business insights that he used to focus on the technology space. Cohen worked at Yelp pre-IPO for a decade and was one of the organization’s first employees on the crowdsourced local business review site.
His role has provided him with endless opportunities to foster vital contacts and relationships with Nike, Saks Fifth, Dave and Busters, ExxonMobile and 711. When the company went public, it altered Cohen’s career trajectory, causing him to return to the sports industry. He realized that the best place to exert his influence was to help athletes build generational wealth and diversify their financial portfolios.
“It’s amazing to have the contract dollars on the court. But that’s obviously short-lived, specifically for the NBA and NFL guys. So what do you do off the court and field?” he reports, explaining that educating athletes about financial literacy is an area where he flourishes.
(left) Adie Von Gontard, Philadelphia 76ers Charles Bassey and Daveed Cohen.
Founders Adie Von Gontard and Lil Wayne were immersed in the sports industry. As a hip hop influencer, the New Orleans, Louisiana rapper often interacted with athletes who confided in him that they were destitute. Confused and shocked by his financial difficulties, especially after many of these sports players signed lucrative multi-million contracts, Wayne was motivated to open a sports agency and help teach his friends financial literacy and wealth management. Once word got out that Lil Wayne was interested in sports management, many agencies contacted him to offer him money to use the Young Money label name.
“He said, ‘I’m not looking for quick money; I was an artist who made billions of dollars. I don’t need that; it’s really about making an impact. That’s where he met Adie and her family.” Cohen describes the genesis of the partnership. between the two men. “It’s funny because you have two opposite sides of the spectrum. You have Lil Wayne tattoos on his face, frankly, and then you have Adie’s family, the traditional white family. So having these two groups together to build something powerful with the goal of helping its athletes build generational wealth.” The agency represents about 40 NFL and NBA athletes, and now the company is exploring NIL territory, owned by college athletes who are free to profit from their “name, image and likeness” by acquiring brand partnerships.
“The benefit is that now the kids can earn some money, and maybe that helps support [your] family; you never know everyone’s situation. The other benefit is exposing them to business opportunities now. So now they’re being put in a situation where they can attend meetings with executive leaders and learn about business. Some of the partnerships aren’t just about money. Maybe it’s a partnership, where it’s more of a stage. They’re learning business tactics that they can take to the next level because not every athlete goes to the NBA, NFL or MLB. But they need to learn some of these business principles along the way.”
In his role at Young Money APAA Sports, Cohen manages marketing and partnerships for the athletes the agency represents. He is involved in all areas of client representation, including player endorsements, recruiting, NBA draft preparation, and NBA free agency.
“Working with them through the pre-draft process, selecting them, negotiating the contract, is one part of the deal, and the other part is marketing and partnerships. do you have, which goes all the way to equity partnerships? For example, instead of just doing a 50k deal, we take a 10% equity in this company and build it that way, so they own something instead of doing a quick cash,” says Cohen.
It addresses the misconception that sports agents are just the image of “Jerry Maguire” or the depiction in HBO’s “Entourage,” where agents only negotiate contracts with the NBA, NFL, or MLB.
“There’s the other side of the business, which is everything off the court, opportunities off the field, and inside that, an agent, you’re a little bit of everything. One day, you’re a mentor to these guys. helping the family book some flights. The next day, you’re negotiating an equity partnership with a brand. The day after, you have a photo shoot, so you wear a lot of hats as an agent,” explains .
Cohen also educates younger athletes on how to improve their financial education now that they can earn money in college. He advises them to make partnership arrangements under their LLCs for tax purposes. The agency also has a real estate division that primarily focuses on commercial and residential real estate investments, and athletes can invest with Young Money APAA Sports. However, the agency does not receive a percentage of any real estate transactions.
“We brought you into this business, and we are already going to invest in this commercial property. Or we are going to invest in this beverage company, so now come to our side and join our investment groups and we hope to help you build generational wealth.” he says.
Daveed Cohen wants to help other people who want to follow in his footsteps.
With his extensive experience in winning partnerships with national brands, several joint venture proposals routinely pass through Cohen’s desk. Along with Adie, Cohen and their team, everyone is constantly outsourcing business. His company recently announced a NIL deal with athlete Patrick Fields and Indochino, a bespoke luxury menswear retailer. Fields will wear the brand’s suites throughout the college football season and ceremonies. Cohen admits to being creative with the partnerships he has for his clients, saying that his goal is not to turn them into walking billboards. Instead, he reviews each brand to ensure it aligns with the athletes’ interests.
The world of sports agents is an attractive one, and many people can aspire to attain such esteemed professional status. However, the requirements to become an NBPA Certified Agent and go into business are arduous. The exam required to become an NBPA agent is held virtually every year between January and March. Subjects must correctly answer 42 of the 50-question tests on the CBA, Collective Bargaining Agreement.
According to Cohen, there are approximately 800 NBPA-certified agents, but only 450 NBA players are active. The numbers get even smaller, especially when considering the NBA Draft. There are only 60 picks in the NBA draft, which means agents have approximately a 7.5% chance of having a player selected.
The other facet of why the industry is so competitive is that people are reluctant to mentor others with opportunities, tools and resources to help them get into the sports agency business.
“I don’t know if you know Kevin Hart’s new Peacock show called “Hart to Heart.” Me; Jay-Z said, ‘Information without understanding doesn’t mean anything.’ You might say to someone, ‘Hey, step one to be an NBPA certified agent is to take this test in New York.’ But once you do, what now?” he asked, noting that once people pass the test, there is no further education about what the next step should be. “They might give you an internship where you’re in the mailroom, but is that helping you become an NBA agent? I mean, I’d probably disagree.”
Napoleon Hill once wrote, “All adversity brings with it the seed of an equivalent advantage,” Cohen’s difficult circumstance when he began trying to get a job ignited his tenacity, and he contacted all agencies and then specific agents. . Approximately 50 of them did not respond, but five reached out to him via a Zoom call to give him advice and guidance.
Fortunately, his best friend’s sister introduced him to the co-founder of Young Money APAA Sports. He met with Adie at the Dallas Cohen headquarters and sold him the value he would add to the agency and the company’s bottom line: “My whole position was that I have a ton of marketing experience and contacts in that space. So yeah , I’m certified But my value to you now is securing sponsorship deals, brand partnerships, equity partnerships for your athletes, and I’m going to prove that; that’s how I got into the space.”
True to his word, within a few months, Cohen, in his first year as a certified agent, had raised $100,000 in revenue for the agency’s athletes. He also recruited an NBA drafted player in the same year. Now three and a half years into his new career, he has signed a number of players, including the NIL clientele. Cohen is painfully aware of how difficult it is for a person of color or color to gain a foot in the door to become a sports agent. He pondered how he could create opportunities for other people who look like him: “What I’m doing is I have people coming to me every week and asking for help every day, spending an hour with them and giving them a legitimate plan to get into agency business. There are a lot of different ways to do that. It’s not just being a certified contract agent. It’s on the marketing side, the PR side, it’s the operations side, it’s the customer relationship. talk to the client? Because every agency needs someone who is in the client relationship. Are you good at organizing events? is their passion and how do they fit into that space?” he offers.
He adds that individuals must be tenacious, hardworking, unwilling to take no for an answer and understand that building organic relationships is crucial to success because unexpected doors can open.
“It’s about building those relationships, even when there isn’t an added value or benefit to you in that very second. Just because Johnny doesn’t do the job you want today doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a coffee with Johnny every two weeks or once a month to get his brain. Have these conversations because that time you go for coffee can lead you to someone else’s office, what happened to me and how did I get into that space.”
Cohen also cites his mentor, co-founder Adie, for helping him thrive in his chosen profession. Although the two men are the same age, he credits his employer with recognizing his eagerness to learn and work hard and giving him the chance to accelerate his knowledge of the agency’s best practices through the company’s MBA program.
“Without him kind of showing me the ropes and the way, there’s no way I’d be here without him,” admits Cohen.
