Steep learning curve

Navigating business, basketball awaits incoming NBA rookies

Sixty NBA draft hopefuls will hear their names called Thursday night as members of the 2017 rookie class.

For many of the top picks it will mark the start of the transition from college underclassman to instant millionaire.

It is the ultimate finishing school. A journey that continues to evolve for NBA newcomers that has trended younger during the one-and-done era. Boston’s Jaylen Brown, San Antonio’s Dejounte Murray and Golden State’s Patrick McCaw are fresh off that experience, having gotten an opportunity afforded few rookies: Adjusting to the NBA grind, the pressures of life as a wealthy pro athlete while being called upon to contribute for teams that made deep playoff runs.

“I got a lot accomplished and learned a lot this year. I still have a long way to go,” said Brown, last year’s third overall pick. “I’m not satisfied, but I am OK with this year from a foundation standpoint. I’m just going forward. I definitely have a lot of room to grow.”

But before a rookie even sees a basketball court, the first step for them is handling basic things like securing a place to live and setting up utilities – tasks often new to many 19- and 20-yearolds fresh out of college dorm life.

While past rookies have enlisted close friends or family members to act as de facto assistants during their initial transition, many are taking even more ownership of their off-thecourt responsibilities.

In Brown’s case it meant leaning on a network of advisers he first built around him prior to beginning the draft process last year. The group included Cuonzo Martin, Brown’s coach at Cal, as well as fellow Cal alum Hashim Alauddeen, a founder of one of Oakland’s elite AAU teams.

Thanks to Alauddeen the group also includes NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who Alauddeen worked for as director of basketball operations when Thomas was coach at Florida International.

Brown has called them his “sounding board” and invaluable in helping him embrace the less glamorous side of professional basketball.

It’s also helped that Brown has always been intrigued with business, having interned with a firm in the Bay Area while at Berkeley. An avid chess player, Brown surveyed the NBA landscape process like a chess board and ultimately decided to forgo hiring an agent to negotiate his first contract.

It taught him about “maximizing your value” and he adapted that on the court, where he worked his way into the Celtics’ playoff rotation and found himself guarding LeBron James in the Eastern Conference finals. Though it’s something many rookies could have never imagined, Brown said because of the work he’s put in it all felt very plausible.

“I probably would say, yeah, it sounds about right,” he said. McCaw was taken 38th overall in the second round last year by Milwaukee, then traded to Golden State on draft night.