Executives, board members, and many rank-and-file employees of public companies often get equity in their businesses as compensation. Why not NBA players, too?<\/p>\n
That was the scenario posed by Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown<\/a> during a Q&A session on Thursday night with Bloomberg bureau chief Brooke Sutherland, at a Bloomberg-sponsored event in downtown Boston. Among her questions for Brown, who is a vice president in the National Basketball Players Association: Are the rising valuations of NBA teams<\/a> appropriately reflected in athletes\u2019 pay?<\/p>\n Brown certainly doesn\u2019t think so. He wants players to be able to invest alongside ownership groups, and suggested that equity should be part of pay packages as well.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you work for Apple, or if you work for Nike, if you\u2019re a CEO or someone that\u2019s been on a board … you [get] equity at some point, you are a part of it,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAthletes should be looked at in the same way. … You get compensated for doing your job but you don\u2019t get compensated for the [team\u2019s] growth. And in major corporations and companies, you do, at least some of the big ones.\u201d<\/p>\n When the players\u2019 union struck the current collective bargaining agreement<\/a> with the NBA in 2023, the new contract allowed for some equity investing but with strict limits. (The contract runs through the 2028-2029 season.) For example, NBA athletes could own less than 1 percent of a team if the business is publicly traded, and up to 4 percent of a WNBA team.<\/p>\n When the contract comes up for renewal, Brown said pushing for more equity ownership will be among his priorities. \u201cThe players should be included to some degree,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it should be rocket science.\u201d<\/p>\n Sutherland also asked Brown about whether the nonprofit small-business incubator he started, Boston XChange<\/a>, will eventually have its own physical space. Brown said he\u2019s still hopeful that will happen. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to pay for a space and it\u2019s not being used,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would be nice to have our own space. We just want to make sure it\u2019s on the right terms.\u201d<\/p>\n And she asked about why he turned down millions in sponsorship deals to launch his own shoe business, 741 Performance<\/a>, in 2024. Brown responded: \u201cProbably some delusion. … Most people would probably scratch their head about decisions like that. Some people I know are … probably still scratching their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n He said money is important, but there are several things he values more, such as community commitment, integrity, and creative input.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you take away all those things and only want to give me money or limit my voice,\u201d Brown said, \u201cit doesn\u2019t sound like something for Jaylen Brown.\u201d<\/p>\n This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston\u2019s business scene.<\/p>\n Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @jonchesto<\/a>.<\/p>\n