Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith may be the most popular of the Sixers new owners. Next to CEO Adam Aron, Joshua Harris may be the investor who attends the most games given that he is the managing owner.
With those figures playing their positions, Jason Levien may be the investor who people come to know as the basketball guy in the group.
Levien has on his resume sports agent, team general counsel and assistant general manager. Still, he is excited to embark on a different journey in his career.
I think everyone brings something different to the table, Levien said. It has been a real learning experience for me working with David (Blitzer) and Josh (Harris), who know how to buy companies and businesses and watching them do their thing. I am hoping I can add some value on basketball because I have worked as an agent and worked in a front office.
Levien did his undergraduate work at Pomona College in California before getting his law degree at the University of Michigan. While at Pomona he did play on the basketball team, but even back then he served in many roles as a player.
I use an analogy. I have been a basketball guy my whole life and I have had moments in my life where I have been the starting shooting guard and moments when I have waved a towel and gotten the water, Levien said. And so I am going to do whatever we need. I want to contribute in any way I can. I think we have a great group of guys.
I think we have an exciting product. Hopefully, it gets better and I see this as a long-term venture for myself, so I imagine over time things may change.
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In the meantime, Levien will be a sponge.
There are a lot of smart people in this group. I feel like the dumb guy and the poor guy, I do, he said with a chuckle. Josh (Harris) has a ton of energy, the guy is working out every morning at 6 a.m. Art (Wrubel) has a lot of energy, Blitzer is a mile a minute, really smart, super energetic so I think there is value there. I think people are really going to feel that passion that we are going to have and we are excited about it.
There was speculation before meeting the new owners that Levien, because of his background, would become the general manager. Harris made it clear that for the immediate future Rod Thorn is his guy or as he coined him, the captain of the ship.
Like Harris, Levien lives in New York City. He grew up there and still spends a good amount of time in Miami, which is ironically where he made his first big strike as a sports agent by negotiating a 33 million contract for Udonis Haslem with the Miami Heat.
Levien expects to add Philadelphia to that list as a regular stomping ground, attending as many Sixers games as possible. He cant wait to enjoy the experience.
E-mail Dei Lynam at dlynam@comcastsportsnet.com.