Category: Sports News

CAA’s co-head of basketball talks Karl-Anthony Towns’s winning moment and what comes after winning a championship.

This story appeared in Boardroom’s Fall Issue print magazine and has been adapted for online publication.

The life of a sports agent is not for the faint of heart. The competition to sign elite players starts earlier and earlier as the years pass, and the competition to keep elite players never ends. What used to be a job focused primarily on on-court contract negotiations now requires a wide range of skills, from understanding the value of equity in a brand sponsorship to building long-term IP through media and content creation, product development, team ownership, and a myriad of other avenues. An agent is often the first call a player makes in situations both professional and personal, from working through a contract extension to needing to change a flight.

The bet that a player and an agent make on each other is not a one-time thing: The agent a player signs with for NIL marketing or ahead of a draft is very unlikely to be the agent a player retires with. It’s a fickle business built off a “what have you done for me lately?” mentality, and reality rarely meets expectations. It’s remarkable, in this context, that CAA co-head of basketball Jessica Holtz has multiple clients, including the Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker and the New York Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns. Following Towns’s incredible sophomore season with the Knicks, culminating in a championship run that galvanized the city, I spoke with Holtz about how an agent and a player meet the moment from a marketing perspective.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Boardroom: Can you describe your role as co-head of basketball and what that means as opposed to just being an agent?

Jessica Holtz: I have been at CAA for 12 years. I don't remember exactly when I got that title, but I became one of the leaders of the group very quickly into my tenure at CAA. Once Leon Rose left to become president of the New York Knicks [in 2020]. I also became a contract agent. So I have a lane within CAA Basketball where I do both on and off court, and I manage my clients 360. A lot of the other basketball agents work in larger teams -- and they have amazing teams. I just have a different setup with my clients because I do both.

You've been with KAT and Devin Booker since they were drafted. It's now been over a decade. In that time working with players of that caliber, what are the biggest changes you've seen in the role that an agent plays?

I love that question, because I think that the agency business is evolving. Karl started in the NBA when he was 19. Devin started in the NBA when he was 18. They are different people than they were when they first started, obviously, in many ways. And then I have to evolve as a person. We have to constantly be figuring out what needs we can best fulfill. You have to cover the basics. You have to do their contracts properly. You have to bring in the off-court deals. But at the same time, what are different avenues of business that they're interested in? What are different streams of revenue that maybe weren' t there before? What are trends in the sports industry?

I really focus on figuring out what do they need today, what are they going to need next, and how does it fulfill their growth pat­tern? Because staying with NBA players that long, a lot of players switch agencies a couple times in their career, sometimes three, four times. The reason I think I've been able to stay with them so long, and I've been lucky to stay with them so long is that constant evolution and constant check-ins and taking a state of the union. Where can we be pivoting? And where do we see the next five years, the next 10 years going? Are we doing things to lay the groundwork now to get us there?

Even before we knew what this Knicks team was going to look like in reality, did you see and feel an immediate difference in marketing conversations when KAT made the move from Minnesota to New York?

First, I'll say I'm really proud of the work that we did for Karl in Minnesota. He was the No. 1 pick, and he won Rookie of the Year [in the 2015-16 season]. His career took a lot of twists and turns. His mother passed away [in 2020]. Anthony Edwards came to the team [in 2020] as the No. 1 pick. We've had a lot of partners through that time. Gatorade has supported Karl for his entire career, dating back to his high school days when he won the Gatorade Athlete of the Year award, and they've done an amazing job marketing him. He's been with Nike his whole career. He's been with 2K. There was a lot of groundwork laid for who Karl was, the things he was interested in, and the brands he was working with, so that when we got to New York, it wasn't like, "Oh, goody, here we go! Let's start marketing!"

It just felt like we got a higher ceiling in New York for Karl, and so many brands are based there. Obviously, there's a lot of CAA players on the Knicks, and so we kind of see the deal flow amongst us, and it's really helpful because we know the market value, we know what brands are spending, we know what Knicks partners are interested in. I love being part of a larger team where we can all work together and support each other, because just like the guys support each other as teammates, we support each other as their teammates on the back end.

I think it really just raised the ceiling at that moment, and then you win a championship and the ceiling goes even higher. I don't know where the ceiling is right now, and it's been really fun to try to figure it out.

New York is one of the biggest brands in the world just as a place.

Just by existing.

There's this incredibly fine line that you have to walk when you are in a playoff situation as an agent, as a player, where you're trying to map all of the possible scenarios and trying to prepare with Karl's brand partners, with potential opportunities on the horizon. You have to have some level of preparedness for, "Hey, if we go all the way, what happens next?" Can you walk me through a little bit of what that experience was like for you in this scenario and some of those conversations with his partners?

You have to wait until a certain point to have them. If I start in round one saying, "What about if we win a championship? What are you going to do to promote him?" then I sound crazy. So it is a very fine line to walk where you're kind of like, "Now I feel really comfortable just at least putting out feelers so that we're prepared." I would say that the sweep of the Cavs was really helpful for us to be able to prepare because you're going to the Finals. So there is a chance you're going to win this. So that's when you start reaching out and saying, "I want to be prepared, should we win this."

Once that moment happens, you guys were operating from this incredible place of, OK, we all can all coordinate with each other. I feel like there were definitely way more coordinated TV appearances than you usually see from players. Can you talk me through a little bit of what those next steps were once he reached the championship goal?

"It takes a village" is such an understatement. Mind you, it was the five Knicks players that we were working with and then their significant others. We were doing deals as a unit also for Jordyn Woods and Ali Brunson and Shannon Hart. The girls all did Reese's. That layer of it required us all coordinating notes, comparing with each other. OG Anunoby and Karl did Fortnite. Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson had their podcast.

It was all hands on deck. Then it was very easy because the guys really do genuinely love each other and they're all a very likable bunch of people, really good humans. So there was that feeling of, We're a team, let's just do as much of this as possible as a team. Once a couple of them were on board, it made it easy for all of us to just get on board. Luckily, a brand would reach out to CAA and it was easy. If this [player) doesn't want to do it, this one will. These two can do it together. I would say in my probably 20 years of doing this, that was the longest sustained period of quick decision-making I've ever had. You couldn't really hesitate on things for too long. We only had a couple hours to say, "Yes, we're doing this morning show. No, we're not doing this morning show. Yes, we're taking this deal. Can we execute it?"

What was it like getting to celebrate that moment for you personally with Leon Rose, whom you knew so well and had worked so closely with?

On a personal level, I couldn't be more grateful and thankful. When I first started out at CAA and first started working with Karl and Devin, it was me and Leon in the trenches together. We've been through so many situations, so many battles, and he always had my back and has been such an amazing mentor and very much part of the reason why we're even having this conversa­tion right now. So to be able to look at him and be proud of him and be part of his story was really cool. Something that I think gets lost in the agency business is we are people at the end of the day and we share in our client success, we share in our peer success, and are just genuinely happy for one another.

It's very hard to put together a championship team. For Leon to have done that in the amount of time that he's done that is really amazing to watch from afar. When Karl got here two years ago, it's been so much fun to be part of because I just think the world of him and his family.

As you mentioned, the ceiling gets higher, and the fact is that Karl has just achieved the unachievable. How do you prepare in the offseason for what's to come next, and how do you talk about what your goals are off the court?

We talk all the time. I have this Notes file in my phone that I made called "The Wish list." I shouldn't speak for every basket­ball player, but I think all my clients are like this-always sharing that if they had a dream deal, this is what it would be. Now it's figuring out what are some of those conversations that maybe didn't go our way in the past for whatever reason? What should we revisit? What's your dream partnership?

He's building a trading card business. He's really put his flag in the ground in terms of being a premier athlete in the space. Helping him build that as a huge piece of his brand and capital­izing on this moment is probably the focal point.

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Every NBA season is defined in part by the players who take an unexpected leap. The Detroit Pistons went from 44 to 60 wins largely because big man Jalen Duren ascended into an All-NBA player at age-22. The Portland Trail Blazers made an unexpected playoff appearance after Deni Avdija grew into a first-time All-Star. The Atlanta Hawks turned into a plucky playoff team after trading Trae Young in part because Nickeil Alexander-Walker leveled up as a starter in the backcourt. The Phoenix Suns exceeded expectations because they found some hidden gems like Collin Gillespie, who went from a two-way contract to an advanced stats darling in a bigger role. Ryan Rollins went from a totally anonymous end-of-bench guy to one of the league’s better young two-way guards for the Milwaukee Bucks.

There’s going to be more surprises this year. It will only take one or two breakouts to rock our Eastern Conference preseason predictions given how close teams 1-10 appear to be bunched together entering the season. It would be surprising if anyone new can break into the top-6 of our Western Conference rankings, but injuries or a Most Improved Player campaign could turn things quickly. With the 2026-27 NBA season around the corner, here are our picks for breakout players this year.

Collin Murray-Boyles, F, Toronto Raptors

Murray-Boyles has been a cult hero going back to his time at South Carolina that helped make him a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. He had a solid rookie year for the Toronto Raptors, and seemed to earn the trust of head coach Darko Rajaković more and more as the season went on. Toronto is dreaming of making a darkhorse NBA Finals run with Kawhi Leonard back in town, and it’s only going to happen if Murray-Boyles fully goes mainstream in his second season. CMB is a monster defender with a strong base, quick hands, and elite instincts. He’s a legitimate game-wrecker at the four, but Toronto might need him to play more center this season, where he’s a bit undersized. He has more room for growth offensively. Murray-Boyles is a very low volume three-point shooter at two attempts per 100 possessions as a rookie. Any improvement there would be massive, but he could also make more of an impact as a bully-ball driver and offensive rebounder. I think Murray-Boyles is going to be a staple in Toronto’s best lineups next to Leonard and Scottie Barnes, but it’s only going to happen if he continues to develop his offensive game.

Zach Edey, C, Memphis Grizzlies

Edey changes the complexion of the game every time he’s on the floor. He’s arguably the most powerful player in the NBA at 7’4, 300 pounds, and he proved that he has elite endurance for a player his size during his historic college career at Purdue. The only thing holding Edey back in the NBA so far is injuries, which limited him to just 11 games last year. The hope is that he can finally stay healthy entering his third season to form a destructive frontcourt partnership with rookie Cameron Boozer, who somehow slipped to the third pick despite being the best prospect in June’s draft. Across 77 games in his first two seasons, Edey’s on-off impact has been pretty remarkable with a +11.5 net-rating, fueled by dominant rebounding numbers on both ends. Boozer’s playmaking and shooting should be a perfect match with Edey’s rolls to the rim and elite glass cleaning. The Grizzlies are the easiest ‘over’ on the preseason win totals to me, and the big man’s breakout potential is one reason why.

Day’Ron Sharpe, C, Brooklyn Nets

Sharpe was once the starting center on Montverde’s greatest high school basketball team ever assembled, but his NBA career has gotten off to a slower start. Sharpe backed up Nic Claxton last year in Brooklyn despite being a better scorer, rebounder, and defensive playmaker on a per possession basis. Now he’s set to take over as Brooklyn’s top big man after the team dumped Claxton on the Chicago Bulls over the offseason, and he could be poised for a big leap in production. Sharpe is incredible at generating extra possessions on the offensive glass with a 16.2 percent o-board rate last season. He also has soft hands as a finisher with 63.8 percent true shooting, mostly on rolls, post-ups, and putbacks down low. He’ll need to get more confident with the ball in his hands, because he turned it over way too often last year. While he’s not the bounciest center, Sharpe is still an impactful defender with quick feet (88% stop rate last year) and even better hands (99th percentile in steals per 100 possessions among bigs). There’s nothing flashy about Sharpe’s game, but he’s proven he can be effective by doing the dirty work some bigs shy away from inside.

Khaman Maluach, C, Phoenix Suns

Maluach essentially got redshirted as a rookie, but the same qualities helped him land at No. 3 overall on our 2025 draft board should still help lift him to success in his second season. There should be more of an opportunity for playing time this year with Mark Williams unsurprisingly already out with a torn labrum, meaning Maluach and Oso Ighodaro (another potential breakout candidate) should get the bulk of the minutes inside for the Suns. Maluach looked excellent in Las Vegas Summer League by slamming everything inside, using his length to deter shots at the rim, and even showing the early signs of a reliable three-point stroke. He’s one of the biggest players in the NBA with a nearly 7’7 wingspan and 9′ 6 standing reach, and he’s going to be disruptive defensively on sheer size alone if he can improve his positioning. Maluach isn’t super quick off the ground and his hands are pretty rough, but there’s still an outline of a modern big man who protects the paints, finishes with ease in close, and can threaten the defense from long-range on pick-and-pops. The Suns feel like a gritty, high-floor team entering the season, but Maluach is the one guy who can raise their ceiling. All he needs is a chance.

Pelle Larsson, G, Miami Heat

It’s a safe bet to put a Heat player on this list, because under Erik Spoelstra, no team is better at uncovering diamonds in the rough than Miami. The Heat can tell themselves that they enter the year with the best player in the East in Giannis Antetokounmpo, the best coach in the league in Spo, and the best frontcourt tandem with Bam Adebayo next to Giannis at center. All Miami needs to do is develop more depth around their stars, and that means Larsson should get a big opportunity after already agreeing to a four-year, $60 million extension before training camp. Larsson does a little bit of everything in a connector role, showing off efficient inside-the-arc scoring, high-IQ passing, and the ability to get into the passing lanes defensively when he got on the floor last year. It feels like the Heat need everything he provides — as long as he improves his jumper a little. Larsson only hit 32.8% of his threes on 5.2 attempts per 100 possessions across his first two seasons, which isn’t good enough in terms of volume or accuracy. Miami obviously believes in him by already rewarding him with a contract. If he takes another step forward, the Heat’s depth would suddenly look a lot better.

Brandin Podziemski, G, Golden State

Even Warriors fans can’t agree on if Podziemski is any good after his first three seasons. The 23-year-old is now playing for a contract extension next summer as he enters his fourth pro season, and there’s plenty of low-hanging fruit in his profile that could make him an impactful two-way guard if he can clean it up. Podziemski is already solid on the defensive end, showing a good nose for the ball to force takeaways and provide timely rotations as a helper. His offense has been a little hot-and-cold so far, mostly because he’s not super explosive inside the arc and he can be prone to getting a little too crafty with his ball fakes and hesitations. Podz would benefit from being a bit more decisive when the ball swings to him, either leaning more into his outside shooting or trying to move the ball quicker as a passer. I’m pretty low on the Warriors this season, but I am talking myself into some of their role players this year as a huge Yaxel Lendeborg fan and a Gui Santos respecter. If Podz can take another step forward, maybe Golden State has enough around Stephen Curry for him to carry them across the finish line.

Carter Bryant, F, San Antonio Spurs

Carter Bryant mostly watched from the bench as the Spurs made a run to the NBA Finals in his rookie season. His imminent ascent in the rotation is just one more reason why San Antonio is only going to get scarier in the coming years. Bryant is an elite athlete with a prototypical frame for an NBA wing at 6’8 with a 7-foot wingspan. He already looked good defensively in a small role as a rookie, and should grow into a true terror on that end in the coming years. He’s the definition of a quick-twitch athlete who can move his feet on the perimeter with guards and explode off the floor to challenge shots. His offense is pretty rudimentary for now, but I think he’s going to be a pretty good three-point shooter after hitting 38.6% of his above-the-break threes on 83 attempts as a rookie, per NBA.com. The Spurs have some solid veterans in front of him in the forward room, including newly-signed free agent Tobias Harris, but none of them have Bryant’s athletic explosiveness and defensive upside. As long as Bryant can space the floor offensively, his defense is going to be good enough to get him on the floor.

Joan Beringer, C, Minnesota Timberwolves

The biggest thing young players need to break out is an opportunity, and Beringer should get a big one this season. The Wolves are thin in the front court behind Rudy Gobert after losing Naz Reid and Julius Randle over the offseason, and that means Beringer will actually be counted on to play big minutes off the bench. Minnesota is going to push the tempo to the max after their sharp trade for LaMelo Ball this summer, and Beringer should be perfect for that type of system. He’s one of the most explosive bigs in the entire league, with real speed in the open floor and some quick-twitch flashes in the halfcourt that might remind you of a young Giannis. Beringer should gobble up blocks and offensive rebounds if he can improve his awareness on both ends, and Ball should set him up for some easy finishes inside. Beringer will stay in the rotation if he can leverage his tools into making a defensive impact, and he should run into easy points offensively just by playing within the Wolves’ flow. Chris Finch can be notoriously hard on young players, but Beringer is too talented to keep on the sidelines.

The Phoenix Suns have a few new faces, but return the majority of their core from a season ago. Jordan Ott has the tough task of figuring out how to best mix and match this group.

The Suns are on a mission to figure out who to keep and who to give minutes in the rotation on a deep squad. Everything else is just noise.

Context: This trio was hand-selected BEFORE the opening preseason game in Detroit. I will not let one preseason game filled with experimentation sway my opinion too strongly here. We still have four more of these things to go before the regular-season opener.

Here’s who we should all be focused on, outside of the young(er) fellas.

1) Pat Spencer

Pat Spencer played the LEAST amount of minutes on the team in the preseason opener, so I feel good about keeping him number one on this list. He received 7 total minutes and was not much of a factor, attempting just two shots and splitting a pair of free throws for 1 point.

His time will come in the preseason to get a fair look, but ultimately it’s important to remember that he is on a two-way contract. It is unlikely that he will receive playing time in a perfect world where everyone is healthy.

But the reality is, injuries happen. And when they do, Pat Spencer will be ready to go. It’s in his DNA.

2) Haywood Highsmith

Call me crazy, but I still believe in Haywood Highsmith. At least as a useful rotation piece, nothing crazy or anything.

He has battled through a lot and is clearly not 100% the old version of himself, and that’s okay for now. They have the depth for him to build back up to where he needs to be in the meantime.

Highsmith is likely in a battle for the final roster spot with Jamaree Bouyea at this point. Everything points to it being between those two, barring an injury.

He had a rough preseason debut, recording 5 turnovers in 16 minutes, but did rack up 4 boards and connected on his only shot attempt. Let’s see if he can shake off the rust going forward.

3) Ryan Dunn

It’s easy to forget about Ryan Dunn after he flatlined a bit a season ago. It was not the sophomore season many had hoped for, especially offensively.

A rough preseason opener could have many of you already “out” on him. And I wouldn’t blame you. But it’s important to not overreact to one game, especially in the preseason where the rotations and lineups get shuffled, and the play gets sloppy as players shake off rust. But there comes a point where you gain enough of a sample size to combine with the track record to form strong opinions on players, and that puts Dunn on an uphill climb.

The battle between him, Rasheer Fleming and Koa Peat for minutes will be an interesting storyline to track this season.

They’ve raved about his work ethic, but that’s not enough. Dunn has to show improvement and production to get minutes. Plain and simple.

HM: Jamaree Bouyea

The Skinny: Bouyea will see plenty more run this preseason as Phoenix decides whether or not they will keep him or Highsmith. With Pat Spencer on a two-way contract, it feels like, from a roster flexibility and positional need perspective, that HH has the upper hand, but there is still plenty of basketball to be played until a decision is made.

Yaxel Lendeborg credits big performance to Steph Curry, Draymond Green advice originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Steve Kerr and Steph Curry’s message to Yaxel Lendeborg after his first preseason game was simple: be more aggressive.

The Warriors rookie received the message, scoring a game-high 17 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting from the field in Golden State’s blowout preseason win Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lendeborg, speaking with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike in a postgame interview, credited the veteran leadership of Curry and Draymond Green. 

“After last game, I texted Steph and Draymond both to just ask for some advice and some guidance,” Lendeborg recalled. “I was a little scared first game to be aggressive. I was a little shell-shocked and all.

“But getting the word of advice from both of those guys telling me that they believe in me and I have room to make mistakes, just gave me the extra confidence I needed tonight.”

It’s hard to imagine a better motivator than two future Hall of Famers offering validation.

Lendeborg made the most of the gained confidence. He attacked the basket early and scored his first three field goals deep inside the paint, exactly what Kerr wants from his 6-foot-9 rookie. 

“We need him to be a scorer,” Kerr told reporters in his postgame press conference. “We need him to get us easy buckets at the rim. And he did a great job of that tonight.” 

The Warriors desperately need scoring outside of Curry. Golden State’s two leading scorers behind their superstar last season were Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porziņģis. 

With Butler continuing rehab on his surgically repaired knee and the uncertainty surrounding Porziņģis’ availability, Lendeborg is presented with the opportunity to establish himself as a true second option. 

And despite being the leading scorer for the national champion Michigan Wolverines last season, Lendeborg says the need for that aggression will require adjustment. 

“It’s hard to learn,” Lendeborg told reporters during his postgame press conference. “I’ve been an unselfish player my whole life. And just coming here and hearing I got to [have a] score first mindset — it’s going to be something that I got to get adjusted to.” 

Lendeborg showed his scoring ability earlier this offseason by winning the 2026 NBA Summer League MVP, but his performance Tuesday night proved he has the potential to do it against NBA-level talent. 

Kerr will look for that production on a consistent basis. With the support of Curry and Green, Lendeborg will have the boost of confidence he needs to strive for that.

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