SBR Vault - Conversations with Pau Gasol, Mark Mes

Sports Business Radio launched in 2004. Brian Berger has interviewed the biggest names in sports and business. Let's step into the Sports Business Radio Vault and look back on some of our favorite conversations. This week, it's a Champions Edition with Paul Gassal, Mark Messier, and Andre Iguedala. Now, enter the Sports Business Radio Vault. Now, here's Brian's interview with Paul Gassal from May 2020. Thanks for joining me

on Sports Business Radio. How are you? Welcome. Thank you. No, I'm fine. It's difficult times that we've been going through last few months, but I just want to stay positive, proactive, constructive. That's kind of the way I believe is the best way to get through it. Yeah, I want to get to some of that stuff in a minute because your foundation is doing some amazing things.

But I wanted to start off. I've wanted to have you on for a long time. You're so much more than just an athlete. And I've always been struck by the fact that you speak five languages. You could have become a doctor just as easily as a basketball player. And you're a classical pianist. You're just a very diverse person. What was it like growing up in the

Gassal household? You know, we were lucky because we always had pretty much everything that we needed. Our parents really worked hard to provide that for us and provide opportunities. And I am as well diverse and rounded as I am because my parents gave me those opportunities. They gave me the opportunity to go to music class and piano class when I was eight. And and allow me

to go to school that I received a great education. So I I wanted to be a doctor myself and I went to into my school for a year until I finally decided that basketball was going to be my main occupation. And I wanted to become a professional basketball player. I could see that it was really happening for me. My parents would not let me get off

the education route until I had more of a solid almost Garrett not guarantee. But like a solid chance. So again, it's all thanks to my parents and the opportunities education that they provided for me. How difficult of a decision was that at that crossroad of continuing with medical school or going all in on basketball? You know, it was a difficult in a sense because I love

medicine. I really enjoyed everything that I learned that year. And I wanted to to continue learning. And one of my friends dreams was also to be able to become a doctor and be able to heal people and provide health to people, which is something so obvious, but so important and now so highlighted. It's pandemic and with the COVID situation. So again, that was that was a

tough to hard part. The easy part was that I also wanted to become a basketball player and become a professional player. And we one day get to the NBA. So I couldn't do both. They were highly demanding careers. He tried to do it for a year. He was extremely hard. Remember passing out a lot of nights with books and notes of my chest and just waking

up with them. And the morning that was so exhausted. Just trying to keep up with everything. So, but it made me really appreciate how hard things are and how hard you have to work for. And one and one's I made a decision to go all in into basketball, which is what I told my parents that that my mom, I really want to become a basketball player.

I have to give it my all. It's not about comfort. It's not about being lazy. You know, this is a full time dedication. So I convinced them that that was even though they were like, we had a meeting with a dean after my first year of med school saying, hey, maybe Powell could do like only like three classes or two classes. So he doesn't really give

it up completely. So like I can put it on hold and if basketball doesn't work, I can get back to it. But let me give my full attention and energy to basketball. And I did and he worked out. I was very, very well. When you played for the Lakers, you used to go to Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. And I know you'd be fronted some of

the doctors there. Did that kind of scratch your itch a little bit. You couldn't be a doctor yourself, but you got to go observe some of those surgeries and befriend those people. In every city and every team that I played for, I've created a partnership with the Children's Hospital. One of them, at least. So it meant physical sandjude research. Hospital and from the very beginning, since

I was a rookie, I developed a relationship with them. My dad worked at sandjude. My mom volunteered as a doctor. So my ties with the medical field and health care are her. They're always been very, very strong. So ones I could trade to the Lakers. I developed a relationship with Children's Hospital. One's I went to the Bulls with Laura's Children. One's I went to the Lake,

I have the spurs of the Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio. So it's always been in Barcelona with San Juan de laio, the hospital there, Children's Hospital. Again, it's so important to me and basketball, I might success as a basketball player has given me a platform. And a level of impact with kids, patients, that it's been one of the most powerful experiences that I've always had

in my life. To be able to touch a kid's life, but it's fighting for its own life. And bringing positive energy, get a few smiles out of them or ever. And spend really like powerful and deep humane human experiences and connections. Those are the most, the most probably, greatest experiences of my career. Well, I commend you for it. It's amazing that you've always done that. I've

gone with a number of pro athletes to Children's hospitals. And one of the things they tell me all the time is, all my problems go away. It really is a perspective shaper when you go into one of the hospitals there and you see the children and their families, you walk out going, okay, you know, maybe four for 13 from the field tonight isn't the worst problem

going on in the world. And I think to me, all the work that I've done, all the humanitarian work that I've done has always given me great perspective. It's allowed me to keep my feet on the ground and has really put and reminded me what's truly important and how insignificant sometimes our own struggles are. And things that we consider important are really affect us. We really

take to heart are not that big of a deal. I mean, not that you shouldn't care about what you do and you should work really hard for next game to do better. It should better and contribute to your team. And that edge is important as a professional athlete. You don't want to lose it. But ultimately, you do have to keep in mind, okay, this is not

that big of a deal. If, remember, pop of it's saying, you know, if losing in the first round or losing in the playoffs is a worse thing that happens to you your life. You're in pretty good shape. You're doing well. So, so let's just, you know, not again, not that, because there's again, that's a competitive edge that you need to have as an athlete, especially if

you want to win and finish at the top, you can't really be okay with with losing as a, it's okay, I missed it. All right. Who cares. But, but there is an important sense of, hey, there's something bigger than basketball, bigger than sports. And it's beautiful. You can utilize your success in professional sports to touch people's lives to make a difference in people's lives. And I

would definitely encourage all athletes to find their cause, find their passion, find, you know, whatever it is that touches them and to make a, make a difference, make a difference in those people's lives and those kids' lives. Your brother is also part of the Gisal Foundation mark. Just got a ring with the Raptors last year. I know how important the foundation is to you and your

brother. You're doing some amazing things right now. I saw in Los Angeles last week, meals for people, thousands of meals backpacks. You know, you're really stepping up right now to help people during this pandemic. And then, you know, going on and on, you work with UNICEF, you're battling childhood obesity. Maybe tell us a little bit about the focus of the Gisal Foundation. Well, our focus in

our mission, we're going to be on the right side. The mission is to battle childhood obesity. Probably the biggest threat that children have been exposed to for the last years. I learned along, you know, in 2012, 2013 that children who were born today for the first time in history had shorter life expectancies than their parents. This last year, we've learned from the UN, numbers from the

UN, that there was for the first time more obese people in the planet, that people with children were younger. We're dealing with a terrible situation that we need to be highly aware of. The world is changing very fast. Technology is taking over. There are great tools out there, but it's making us have worse habits that affect our health in a very negative way. And we have

to be aware of that. You know, we have to really empower ourselves. And from the foundation, we just want to empower children and families to have healthier lives. So they don't develop obesity. So they don't develop cardiovascular diseases. They don't develop diabetes. And they have a good quality of life and they fulfill themselves as adults and as people. So that's kind of our mission with UNICEF.

My relationship has developed over the years. I'm a good, I've been a good well-invested person since 2003. But at least last year also, I was named Global Champion for Nutrition and Zero Childhood Abysity. Kind of focusing more on the nutritional aspect of my relationship with UNICEF. And it's one of the four pillars in our work with the foundation. It's physical activity, there's nutrition, there's quality of

rest, and there's emotional well-being. And I think that also, as now mental health is becoming more of a normal subject to this cause. It's not such a taboo anymore, likely in. And I think there's a lot of room for growth on that aspect. But we have to have that. And feel and aspect in mind for us to continue to be who we want to be. Be

aware of our status, of our health, of our mental health, deal with stress. Especially now, we're with the COVID. And that's why our work has become even more important to be able to deal with the uncertainty, the adversity, the struggles, the challenges that COVID-19 has. And it's been brought on to us. It's very important that we provide with knowledge and tools to be able to manage

that in a healthy manner. So we're being very proactive, as you say. We've created partnerships with Woll Centric Kitchen, delivering 4,000 meals in LA at the forum. We're delivering about 800 meals in San Antonio, Texas, along with all of our content, as far as the pain attention to healthy habits. We're creating healthy challenges. We're calling the healthy quarantine, bringing healthy smiles to people at homes during

these difficult times. And times that we have been forced to be confined into our own homes. All that, it's critically critical. And we have to continue to push and be really proactive. And I think that this times are times of need and times of need of leadership. And people that are willing to go the extra mile and really take a step forward and say, hey, I'm

here. You can count on me. I want to help you. We're going to get through this together. I know Rafael Nadal. And you have put a goal of $12 million to raise during this time as well. So again, there's leadership. I've seen Rafa doing things in the tennis world. I see you doing things in the world at large like you just described. You and Rafa have

known each other for a long time. How did you come together on this initiative? We've been friends. We've developed a friendship. More than mutual admiration, mutual respect for what we've been able to accomplish in our sports careers. It's a friendship, a personal connection. And that's where from a phone call, say, hey, what's going on? It's really bad. It's really frustrating. What can we do? Let's join

forces. Let's just launch something together. We came up with this idea of our best victory and into really kind of through this call to action together with the Red Cross, which is called the Red Cross answers. And kind of try to bring all athletes, all sports together and be kind of like the driver and put it out this goal of $12 million to reach over 1.3

million people in Spain. The most affected by this crisis at all levels. That's kind of how we was born from a conversation in texts over the phone. And we just say, hey, let's go. Let's put it out there in a couple days. Let's just work it out. We recorded the videos. Let's call our friends. Tell them the join forces. Let's use our platforms to really put

together a coordinated effort to respond to this crisis. And we did. And then there's a lot of things that we've been able to do. The response has been tremendous. We've now had athletes, federations, leagues, like joining in, chipping in, creating their own initiative to be a part of our call to action. Also the world of culture, artists, musicians have joined in the private sector. Again, I

think we created a movement in Spain that was very important because athletes sometimes are seen as role models. Those role models have to step up when things get ugly. There can't just be role models when things are going well. And you're winning. And people are tapping in the back how great you are or everything is going on with their normal life. The things get ugly when

there's need. Those role models have to step up and take action and be proactive. And that's what we understand. And we're able to push out and be able to bring life. Again, you're to be commended. You're doing some amazing work right now. I want to go back again to your childhood, your brother, Mark, also MBA player. What was it like growing up where you guys competitive?

Were you not really that competitive? Did you push each other to get to where you are today? Yeah, we were competitive. We were competitive with everything that we did. There was a gap of age or in a half years. And it's significant. But nevertheless, I always kind of try to push him to, if he wanted to beat me, whatever it was, he was going to have

to work for it. He was going to have to earn it. And I was not going to take it highly on him. And so I always made sure that he understood I was a big brother. I think that hopefully helped him kind of wanted to keep working and to work. To push himself and to kind of also piss him off a little bit, if you will,

to get better and to try to beat me. And he's become one of the best players also in the planet. And he's made a name for himself. Because until probably until he was 18, 19, 20 or so, he was just August all his brother. So he's an incredible example of hard work of dedication. Self-discipline commitment. And just his path was not easy. When you went to

the US, he gained a bunch of weight that he had to lose. He had to make a tough decision by leaving kind of the family that was in Memphis with me. And left after finishing high school, he left back to Barcelona. I said, hey, I got to create my own path. And I don't think being here is good for me. So I just got to go

back. He worked, he really put his mind into it. And again, it's become an incredible basketball player, but also a great human being. Well, and how crazy it is that you guys get traded for each other. And then obviously years later, you play on the Spanish national team. That's got to be a highlight for both of you, I would imagine. What pride playing for your country

together with your brother? We've had an incredible journey. We couldn't even dream. We were able to do that. We were able to play with the national team together in 2006. And winning our first World Cup in Japan. Then as you said, being traded for each other, I think with the only brothers that it got ever traded for each other. Even though Mark was not in the

league, he was a great player. He had, but his draft rights were with the Lakers. And his draft rights went to Memphis when I went to LA in 2008. First brothers who start on all-star game 2015 was an incredible moment when we were able to jump off. And Madison Square Garden during that all-star game. And then first brothers that I ever won, an NBA championship. So

again, a lot of great accolades. To me, one of the things that I wanted to do, and that's why we created the Giselle Foundation 2013, was that all this success that we were able to achieve and basketball and play professionally, this is kind of, we're working on our legacy beyond that. And that's why we wanted to kind of give back and help children around the world

to have the same opportunities that we've had, share the knowledge that we've gained and know that works through our lives, shared with families that we work with, people in need, people. There are an extreme sometimes situations, families that have very little means. So we want to make sure we're in touch with them, because at the end of the day, they're vulnerable. They're vulnerable, population. They're populations

at risk. And we want to make sure that we're not neglecting them. And that we're there for them and kind of build kind of our legacy. I hope that the Giselle Foundation kind of surpasses us and continues to have impact beyond our lives. And that's kind of what we are building. Other than your parents, is there someone who you look up to as a mentor, someone

who's taught you business, or, hey, here's how you build a foundation, things of that nature. Well, I've learned throughout the way I have learned by reading. So reading live books has been a big help. Peter Drucker read a few books of Peter Drucker as far as managing foundation or charity and so forth. So I learned quite a bit from him. I learned from different foundations how

they work. And I met with directors of some of the most successful foundations. And I've listened and asked questions. And I think that that's been also very important. And then just by associating myself with people that are great, that have more experience than I do, bringing in board members. There are knowledgeable in acting to learn from them. And they can bring something that I've learned from

them. I cannot. So surrounding myself with highly, I guess, prepared and educating people and experienced people have been, has been also a great source of information and knowledge for me. You played for two of the greatest coaches in NBA history, Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich. I imagine you probably learned a lot basketball wise, but you probably learned a lot about life from them as well. Both very

different. But what did you learn from each? I guess with Phil, I learned a lot. He's just a fantastic coach and person that I love dearly. And so I learned how to meditation was a huge thing that he brought, that he was completely new to me, that he was completely foreign and unknown. So for him to expose me, I learned a lot. I was a player,

into meditation, into a group meditation as well. And then translated into reading about meditation, about experience, trying more, getting into the habit of doing it. And how that's very important to in order to deal with the ups and downs of life, of sports, of centering yourself, of being mindful of where you are and who you are. I think that's kind of the biggest, probably the biggest.

I think that's the biggest takeaway. I'm the biggest lesson that I've learned and had had had this had the biggest impact in my life from Phil. From Greg or Pop, a different approach. I've also learned some good things. He was more. He taught players, he taught a player about general knowledge, about caring about other causes. He's very involved. And very, I guess, the vocal about politics.

And about racial issues. He also gave books to the players, which I loved. He actually gave a CD to all of us. Two of them. One was opera. One was a collection of Luciano Pavarotti's 50 best performances are are are areas. And I love that, which I was already an opera fan, but I you know, I appreciated that. And I think the other one was an

African American singer. Who is also a great one of the all time great, great singers too. And he gave it to the team. So he kind of. And the thing that I like, probably a lot about pop is, which has been said, it's one of the like keys to the spurs family culture is how, you know, team meals, something that he encourages. And he encourages team

meals after games on the road. So he makes sure that I'm good, a very good quality restaurant. It's open after a game. The whole team can come and you can break bread and mingle and kind of come together and bond after win after loss. I know we're a team. And that's been a huge, I think a huge thing, which is very difficult in the NBA because

kind of everyone is kind of on their own, on their own bubble during their own thing with their own friends. And he was very inclusive. Bringing everyone together. And those and creating that chemistry and familiarity able to the team. So I think that that's important. I think it's important. I've heard that pop is pretty legendary with his selection of wines. He is a wine connoisseur. So

I imagine you had some pretty good wine at those team meals as well. Yeah, we had some really some really good wines. I was always very open and ready to enjoy those voices. So no, yeah. He's definitely a wine fan. Appreciate it. It's a big part of who he is. And I know it winds were always present in those dinners. And not that everyone had him,

not everyone has this love wine. But I definitely appreciated it too. Much like yourself. Very diverse. Again, you speak a number of different languages. Kobe Bryant. When I watched you to, you know, it was wonderful to watch you play basketball together. But I always kind of wondered. Wow, these are two really bright people. They speak multiple languages. They have diverse interests. Kobe, you know, won an

Oscar. With so well read, spoke multiple languages. What were some of the things that you guys discussed non basketball wise? I would imagine those were fascinating conversations. Yeah. We have many conversations more so after our time as teammates. We were able to kind of get a lot of attention from the on court. Get mindset and what we were trying to accomplish. I think once you're in

a position that you can win championships and you want to win in badly, that's all you think about. And that's kind of where we were at Merce for the first part and during our years together as teammates. And we developed an incredible connection on the court. Complimented each other very well. We communicated well. We created just a great flow of organic from the from the beginning.

And then after we started talking about, okay, what do we want to do? What do we want to build off the court? You know, whether it was business ideas, opportunities. We would he would tell me what he was working on. And he was thinking about it. And I was now would tell him what I was working on on my end. And we just kind of listened

to each other and kind of chip it into, okay, well, let's see this. Let's see that. You know, he was very passionate about it. He was passionate about creating content and sharing his knowledge via books or little basketball history. It's just with a short film was an incredible success. As you will know, but his commitment to share his knowledge, to leave a legacy behind, to share

everything that he learned through kids books, you know, which I think was great. And he also wanted to help players financially. So he created a fun. Where players could, you know, could invest comfortably and confidently knowing that he was in it. He had a big stake at it and he invested significantly in it. The sports academy was also to provide a platform for players to have

that mamba mentality. So he was all about having impact creating and sharing and just continuing to apply his mindset of I'm not just a basketball player, but I'm so much more than that. And I have so many opportunities and he always brought the best of the best. You know, when he brought, when he was writing his books, he he talked to George R. Martin, the creator

of Game of Thrones. He talked to Pablo Coie, Pablo Coie, the great Brazilian writer. He talked to the top writers in the world to pick their brains. And that was what everything that he did. He knew he had the access. He knew he had the respect. He was not embarrassed or scared. He did the same with Michael, you know, when he started playing basketball. I want

to be the best basketball player, but I'm going to make sure I send questions to Michael Jordan, pick his brain and absorb as much as I can to be better than him. Really. I mean, that's what he wanted to do. So, so I think it's a he's at so many lessons to be learned from for anyone. For any person that strives to be the best that

they can be. You know, and that's, you know, I have a lot of a lot of great memories and lessons from him that I will apply for as long as I live. Yeah, I bet. I watched the last dance and between watching that and and seeing Michael Jordan speak at Kobe's memorial service. It really did strike me that Kobe was really the only guy that kind

of broke through Jordan's hard shell and got through to him and is Michael described Kobe as a little brother. And the respect that Michael Jordan had for Kobe and, you know, Kobe seemed like we we always hear about that Mamba mentality. He seemed like he was built the same way that Michael was with practicing hard and demanding championships. And there was really nothing less than that.

How was it playing with someone who brings that mentality to everything they do. And like you said, outside of basketball achievements as well. He was a privilege, you know, to have that opportunity. Yeah. I, you know, it could be harder times. But once you understood where he was coming from, he just wanted to win. You wanted to win badly. So he was willing to do whatever

he took and to push his teammates to kind of bring their best and to bring that same edge. And that is a huge factor by we were able to win and it's big sily of a type of the type of leader that he was as well. So he just learned a lot from from Michael. He understood and had him as, you know, okay, he's the best

of the best. And he opened the door. So I'm going to capitalize on it. And I'm going to be as annoying as I can be to absorb as much as I can. So I can't. I'm going to be able to do that. I can become the best in academic. So, so once I, you could see how badly he wanted to win, how much you were. How

dedicated he was. You know, that's kind of what you want to be associated with. And it's business. You know, it's nothing personal. You know, it's competitive. It's highly competitive. You got to put your feelings aside and just do what it takes. Push your yourself and don't set short. Don't set yourself short and just continue to understand that if you're going to face hardship, you're going to

have to be prepared. And you're going to have to train that hardship during practices and throughout the season. Well said a few minutes left. The difference between basketball and Europe and the fans there and you know, you're a basket and you're a league. And then the NBA. I have not spent a lot of time in Europe. I have not been at some of those big events

there. You've been to both at the highest levels. What's the difference between the fans in Europe and the US? I think fans, fans in Europe, they're highly passionate. I mean, now there's more games. But before, they used to be one game in the weekend and kind of like almost, almost like not quite as as American football, but you have like, every weekend one game and the

Euro League came along and then knows, so two games a week. And maybe two of them or one of them were at home, the other one were away. So every game had an importance and a meaning. And fans are like die hard fans. They're loyal fans. If the team loses, that's tough and that's hard. And they carry that with them. If they're team wins, they're a

four egg, they're great, they're happy. They're excited. So I think that the emotional impact, it's a lot deeper in Europe by the affiliation. Players don't get traded. So I think the relationship and identification with players, it's higher for the most part. So that's kind of where I grew up with. Then I came here, so many games, teams can move from city to city. Not very often,

but it has happened. Players get traded, teams can be renewed pretty quickly. And there's so many games. So it's more of almost a form of entertainment. And if you win, great. If you lose, great. Well, there's a game tomorrow. It's cool. So, and once I got to the NBA, that was kind of one of the hardest adjustments joining the Grizzlies. Because we weren't a very good

team. The team in real building. And we were just joined a new city, went from Vancouver to Memphis in 2001, played in the pyramid for a few years before the FedEx forum was built. Again, it was, I lost the same amount of games in a week that I had lost in the previous season without C-Barcelain. So I was like, what's going on? I'm taking every loss

so hard. And it's so painful. What can I do? So I learned to deal and cope with that. You got 78 more games. So, you got to leave kind of next play mentality. Also kind of like learn to, OK. And onto the next one, next play. Forget about yesterday. We was focused on today. Let's give your best shot today. And try to win and do your

best today. So I learned that during my first season. And you work hard to be able to turn those losses into wins. And we were able to build a competitive team for a few years within Grizzlies. And we had some good runs. And then I got traded to the Lakers later on. And I had those opportunities to win championships, which we capitalize on two seasons. Yeah.

What's ahead for you? We've had some downtime here during this pandemic. I'm sure you've been able to get your foot healthy or at least healthier than it was. I've talked to some of my MBA friends. And they said, you know what? Well, first, you know, I focus on what's at stake and what's in front of me right now. It's trying to get healthy and trying to

get my foot right. It is getting healthier. But the confinement in the pandemic has slowed me down to which in a way it's been good because it's giving me more time. And another way has kind of stopped me from taking some steps that I had planned as far as like doctors visiting doctors. Making. We're designing my new orthotics, doing biomechanical studies to be able to just

to my mechanics and make sure that a left-nevicular doesn't suffer as much. So it doesn't take as much load as it was. So again, my first goal in my is to get my foot right. Hopefully as we are decomfining ourselves and kind of using into other phases. We'll be able to do some of the things that I'm going to do. And the things that I have

planned for late March and April. And then continuing to move forward with my rehab and hopefully complete my healing and have a chance to potentially play again. I think during August, September, I will find out if that's the case. If that's the case, then I will think about whether. You know, I want to play in on the season and get to play my fifth Olympics in

2021, which I was that my goal. Before the pandemic, COVID 19 pandemic hit. But if that's not the case, the executive side definitely interests me. I've already had teams kind of reach out. Before I even found out or decided whether I was going to continue to play or not. So hey, we would like we have you or not radar like we would we are very interested

in having your own board. So that is definitely something that would be. I think a great transition plays for me to be able to be a part of a team and a franchise from a different position. And to build and be a part of a building process of a winning culture. Somewhere. So that's kind of a that's kind of an exciting part of it that I

might get here sooner or later. But I definitely have it on my radar and it's something that it definitely interests me a lot. Well, I. I have my endorsement. I think you'd be one heck of an executive and just a great mentor for the people playing for that organization. Last question. You know, you're a guy that like you said, team meals, you like to go out

and have dinner. If you can have dinner with, you know, you and three other people, let's say. Who's who's on your dinner list? Who do you want to go have dinner with? Oh, man. I don't know. That's a tough one. You know, I'm not a person that idolized us or a lot, even though to me, what I like mostly to two things, it would be with

people that I really care about. So family and closest friends. Because at the end of the day, I think this pandemic has always reminded us to not take those people for granted. So that's one thing. And I guess if I could have looking at not just a fun meal, but maybe, you know, I had to let my last meal that would I would have it with

people that I care about and people that I love. On a second version of it, I like to surround myself that people are that stimulate me that I can learn from. And I admire. So, so people that could really, that would be in tune of accomplishing great things, being a game changer, really leaving a powerful mark in this world. And who would that be? I don't

know. I think, you know, we talk about, you know, whether it's build, build gates, being a powerful figure and a huge person philanthropist that has impacted the world in many different ways. That's very interesting to me. Very powerful. Mark Zuckerberg, another person that has also has tremendous success with this. With Facebook, you know, that would be a very interesting and how he kind of channels his

success into, you know, having great social impact and helping others. So that those are interesting. I wish I could have had dinner with Nelson Mandela. I was a one person that I would have loved to sit down and listen. And many other people that, you know, that that's a great thing. I would just like to get it in a room with like passionate people that were

ready to, you know, to, to act or they're ready to kind of combine efforts. And that's what I'm about. You know, I'm about making being a part of a team, combining efforts, complaining each other, you know, kind of uniting forces to reach a bigger goal and a bigger, I guess, distance. So that's whoever that that was in line that was what wanted to be a part

of that. I want you to be a dad dinner. Sounds like a great dinner. Well, look, congrats on a great career so far. I hope that you are able to continue to play if you want to. I hope you get that front-off as job if that's what you want. But, you know, again, you're such a diverse guy. And you've made a great impact on the world.

I hope you stay safe during this time. And thanks for joining me. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. How good saw you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at www.gassolfoundationwebbsite.org. You're listening to Sports Business Radio. We'll be right back. So, you can optimize your health for the long haul. Created by leading scientists in aging, genetics and biometrics, inside tracker analyzes your blood, DNA, and

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go to InsideTracker.com, forward slash SBR. That's InsideTracker.com, forward slash SBR. Now, here's Brian's interview with Mark Messier from March 2021. My guest is Mark Messier. He's a hockey hall of fame or six times. He's a Stanley Cup champion. First and only player to Captain two different teams to the Stanley Cup, two time heart memorial trophy winner as the NHL's MVP. Brand Captain for a KSO hemp

powered hydration. You can follow him on Instagram at the real mark Messier. Mark, it's an honor to have you on Sports Business Radio. How are you? Well, I'm doing great, great to be on with you. So let's start by talking about your partnership with a KSO. I have never heard of such a company that is hemp powered hydration. Explain to us the product and how you

got involved with them. Yeah, interesting question. And something that, you know, for me, I played professional hockey up until I was 43, 44 years old. It was always into new techniques, new design technology. And you can imagine I played in four different decades. So I really saw the transformation of our game in so many different ways. From equipment standards to practices to off ice training to

supplements to nutrition. And it's one of the things I really kind of allowed me to stay healthy and fit and play till I was at the age of 43, 44, 24, 26 years pro. In retirement, 43, 44, starting young family. One to picture that I was able to run around and play with the kids and and bail to keep up and live a super healthy life.

Active life. I'm very happy. In all sports, I work out, you know, I play in fishing, hiking, spending time outdoors and wanted to be able to do it without a lot of problems. I'd heard a lot of stories about CBD and this efficacy of from people that had been struggling with their health and their joints in pain and things. And just more and more stories started

to come up with these people with the people using CBD. I became interested in just in their own journeys of how it was helping them. I think we all got, we're fascinated by the young girl who we had many seizures and traditional medicines weren't helping her and she finally was introduced to an extraction of the marijuana plant when they were able to extract CBD and how

it helped her stop her seizures. I think the world kind of started to take notice in about the efficacy of that other than traditional medicines. And for myself as an athlete, how do you stay hydrated without, you know, pouring all the sugar into you and getting all the effects and benefits from CBD. I was approached by a case of and the people behind it, of their

sports performance water. I tried it. I looked into it and I said, if you could get hydrated, I would have been able to do it. With a tasty drink of water, you can get 10 milligrams of CBD and you can get some electrolytes and then the benefits of some stress relief and anxiety. I'm going to sign up for that. And that's exactly what happened. I believe

in the product. I'm using the product. It's a refreshing drink of water without all the sugars added to it. And so we can call ourselves a sports performance hydration beverage. And I think that's pretty appealing to me anyways. I'm sure over the last 25, 30 years you've been approached by many companies to work with them. What are the qualities and traits that you look for before

you say yes to working with a company? Very simple. I thought it wasn't a hockey business for 26 years, but when I retired, I realized I was in the people business. And it's all about galvanizing people together in the share of a dream and work together for a common goal. And so the first thing that I've always done is I've made an effort to get to

know the people behind any of the products that I ever endorsed or got involved with. And make sure I felt comfortable with the vision, the direction, the character, the qualities that afforded me success, aligning with people that had the same kind of aspirations as I did. I don't think it's any different in business. So that's the first one. Second one is that I have to believe

in the product and want to use the product. To me, hydration was something that became very key in my own experiences as a professional athlete, especially down in the playoffs when it became very hot and humid in the ranks. I saw where hydration where players got hydrated and we're hooked up to IV bottles late in playoff games. It hindered their performance. And so I was well

aware of how being dehydrated. It could make Howard's of the best players in the world. If they didn't take care of it. So. And then of course all the benefits that with hydration with the CBD, it just seemed to be an amazing product. And so, you know, I spent enough time talking to the people, how they're able to infuse this CBD into the water without any

kind of taste, which was incredibly innovative. And to do it without all the harmful effects of a lot of sugar. So those, that's really the simple answer of the product. I'm now in the process that I take to am I myself with any person or any company. I want to talk some hockey with you. I'm actually based in Portland, Oregon. And my research tells me that

you lived in Portland for a little bit. Did your dad play for the Portland Buck Arus? Well, long history. My dad was a professional hockey player and did. He played for Portland Buck Arus back in the 60s. So while I was born at Emmett's in Alberta in 1961, he was traded quickly after that to Portland from the Emmett's in Flyers. And I spent the first six,

seven years of my life in Portland, Oregon. We lived in Beaverton. Wow. And we had a cabin up in the road of Dendron on the base of Mount Hood. And so I spent my childhood fishing along the zigzag river and up and down the mountain there. And yeah, it was amazing experience. And then of course, years later, when I was 16 years old, I got a

chance to play for the junior hockey player. I had a chance to skate before I was in school. And I had a chance to skate before their players got on the ice because there wasn't a chance I would play for the first time. And then I got to the hockey in Portland. There was zero hockey at the time. My father was actually the one who started

the whole minor league hockey program in Portland back in the 60s. So that was my first introduction to hockey. Of course, everybody wants to be like their dad. I saw my dad play in hockey. I have very vague memories of going to the game just sitting behind the net and watching him. You know, it's probably six years old. So it's very vague. But I do remember

traveling with him to the to the ring. And skating before with my older brother. And so my earliest introduction to hockey was actually in Portland, Oregon. Wow. That's amazing. You are one of the great leaders in the history of sports, any sport. Again, six Stanley cups. The only player to captain two different teams that oilers and the Rangers to Stanley cups. Mark, what makes for a

good leader? We have a lot of people who listen to this show who are not only sports leaders, but business leaders. What makes for a good leader? Yeah, that's a secret question. You had to ask that often. And I don't know if there's any one thing that makes a great leader. I think there's many different styles of leadership. For me, I always felt that I was

never a player that could carry a team by myself. And so all of my success came from the inclusion of everybody and making everybody feel responsible, making everybody and holding everybody accountable. And anything other than your best wasn't good enough for each and every player no matter how much they played, whether you're the top minute guy or the least amount of player that invents everybody had

to do their job and do it well. And then, you know, be praised for it. Trust is something that you can never discount. You know, Abe Aaron Lincoln said that no man can govern another without his consent. We have to earn the trust of the players in order to lead them. And that takes a lot of effort away from the ring to get to know each

and every individual personally and figure out where they've come from, you know, what motivates them, what issues they might have that are holding them back from reaching their potential. And you create, in my experiences, anyways, we tried to create a real family atmosphere where, you know, we were a brotherhood and we were looking out out after each other. And you share, you share hopefully you find

something that can, you know, galvanize the team together. A certain motivation and it can be different every year. You just never know where that motivation is going to come from. But ultimately, you know, everybody has to feel really good about the position that they're on the team. They have to feel good about their participation in the success of the team. And trust is just a disambition.

I think the players are one of the most underrated dynasties in sports history. Five Stanley cups. What was it like when you had it going? And, you know, it was the glory days there in Edmonton, the games are sold out. You played with Wayne Gratsky. That must have been quite an amazing feeling. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, to be honest

with you. You know, we all started there when we were 18 years old in an expansion. I was a team in my hometown. I knew what NHL hockey meant to the people in Edmonton. I know we got the WHA came in as the other pro league in the early 70s. And it was amazing. But, you know, it still wasn't the NHL. I had many aunts and

uncles and relatives that were either, you know, Montreal, Canadian fans or Toronto Maple Leaf fans. And so I knew the power of the NHL. And to have a, you know, NHL franchise come to Edmonton. It was nobody could believe it to be our team. I know you're honest with you. You know, we're 18 years old. We come into the league. We have some older veterans on

the team. But a lot of young guys in the first two or three years. We even are way through the professional life as a young kid. And of course, you know, there's this little skinny kid called Wayne Gratsky that, you know, changed the face of the game forever. And we're lucky to have him on our side. And, you know, it became very apparent. We weren't going

to win a Stanley Cup. So we wanted to figure out a way how we could contribute to that success. And anyway, we could. And we formed an amazing alliance as a brotherhood between, you know, the core group of players that were there for many years. And we're able to go on and win, you know, five Stanley Cups in seven years. Actually, six finals in eight years.

But, but it was an amazing run. And all led by Wayne and the other great players that were alongside for the ride. That was remarkable. But I got to tell you, Mark, I think what you did in New York was even more remarkable. A 54 year drought for the New York Rangers. You go there. And one of the hardest things to do in sports is change

a culture, especially a losing culture. You went in there and led them to a Stanley Cup. And I think that was one of your more remarkable achievements in your career. What was it like to go in New York? And change a culture of a franchise. Very interesting. I'd been a part of the culture from the beginning and Edmonton that we built. And I became very aware

of the culture that we built because some players would come in and they weren't able to latch on to the culture for some reason or another. But it became a very apparent when they couldn't. And, and if you do have a strong culture, the decisions that you have to make on player evaluation become very easy there because they're either in or they're out. And we built

that in Edmonton. So I didn't think much of it till I got to New York and realized that the culture needed to be changed. And the one thing you can't be afraid is to articulate what you're trying to do as a team. In our sport, we're trying to win a Stanley Cup. So if you're not willing to talk about winning a Stanley Cup and how you're

going to try to win a Stanley Cup in the road map to get to the Stanley Cup. And everything you do is going to be based on whether that gives us a better chance to win a Stanley Cup or that gives us a worse chance to stay. And the Stanley Cup. But if you have that in your mindset all the way through and you're not afraid

of the pressures that put on each and every individual from the players, the coaches, the managers, the owners, then you can start to kind of really work towards achieving it. It was something that was not welcome to talk about it because for many different reasons that we don't need to get into. But I think we're able to change that over time into three years that I

was there. You know, one thing I didn't really anticipate was not being able to talk about all the experiences I had in Edmonton because of what became apparent to me at the time was that the players in New York didn't care about what happened in Edmonton. The only thing they cared about was going to happen in New York with them. So we had to kind of

go through all these experiences together, all the while knowing, you know, what was right, what was wrong from the past, you know, 10 years, 12 years in Edmonton, but had to relive it with the players in New York. Earn their trust to lead them, go through the, you know, the failures, the ups and downs, celebrate the victories and the small steps towards it with all the

while not taking her eye up what we're there for and make sure that we started talking about it. And the fact are 30 by the third year when Mike Keenan came in, the first thing it didn't training camp was a show was the 1986 ticker tape parade with the New York Metz. And so everybody started to envision what it would be like for us to win

a Stanley Cup. And here we are now 53, 54 years. Three years later, it never been done. And now we're 84 years later or more and counting with only one Stanley Cup. So it was a remarkable achievement with a remarkable team of players that sacrificed everything they had to get the job done. But one thing I keep getting back to is that everybody knew what the

goal was and everybody was working day in and day out to try to achieve it. From everyone I've ever talked to who's played in New York or worked for a sports team in New York. They say winning a tie in New York is just different. Like, you know, you're never going to buy another dinner there. It's amplified there more than any place else. The sports fans

are so die hard. Has that been your experience? It was an amazing experience in that regard in every way. I think when I got to New York, I understood that the original six, the history, the challenges that the team had, the failures that the team had, the successes that the team had. But all the successes were always met with failures in the end. So any time

in that great season that we had a 93, 94 when we would set a team record, we were always reminded that, you know, that happened in 1970, whatever, and then the team lost. So we kind of kept our focus in on what we were trying to accomplish. We never let that kind of drag us down. We played fearless. You know, all the teams past success. Didn't,

didn't all to our, didn't alter our mindset. It didn't alter our confidence. We just kept plugging away. We were very confident team. And, you know, when we finally won, it was just incredible, actually, to see the reaction. When I got to New York, I got to know a lot of fans. I really, you know, I knew about the fan base, but until you're actually experiencing it

and don't forget there, the first year we won the President's trophy. The second year, we didn't know what to do. We didn't even make the playoffs. So we rolled this huge wave all the way up the curve, all the way down to deepest depths of despair that you can imagine by losing and not even making the playoffs, which had only been done for a team that

won the President's trophy and then miss the playoffs. Next year, I don't think it had ever been done. Then the third year going all the way back up the rollercoaster to the pinnacle and winning the Stanley Cup. But I think that's one of the things that made the title and the Stanley Cup so special is that I understood the passion. On a deeper level, having been

many. I feel like I know NBA players, NFL players, some of the baseball players, the hockey players. I don't feel like I know them very well. What can the NHL do to make the hockey players more marketable or introduce them to the fans a little bit more? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, hockey fans traditionally hockey players traditionally have always been. It's such a team

game. Everything is going to be a good game. Everything is about the team in hockey. You can't win alone in any sport. Certainly you can't win alone in hockey. So everybody has taught from a very early age or that it's all about the team, which is exactly what you need to do in order to be successful. And everything is geared towards the team. And so it's

hard for players to make that transition from, you know, a spulked person or stepping outside the team to do anything because of the fear of being, you know, like you're being labeled whatever. And traditionally it's been hard. I think we're doing a better job now. I think social media has made a difference in that regard where players can express themselves a little more openly without any

kind of backlash. And, you know, I just think, you know, we've come a long way in the game, hockey, believe me, as far as marketing and, and not only the game itself, but the individual players. And really, I think that's just the most important thing for me to do. And really, it gets down to the individual players themselves of how they want to present themselves to

the world. You know, some players don't want to do that. Other players are a little more apt to kind of do it and, and, and show a little more of their, other personality, weight in the game and all that. So I think it's really an individual choice. I don't think it's a league problem. I think our game has been, you know, with the new TV contracts

over the last five, 10 years. I think, you know, with the HD TV, it's, it's way easier. To follow on TV now. You know, the businesses grown so obviously things are, are, are, are stable in that regard. And I don't think. To be honest with you, I don't know if the league has ever been as competitive as it is, as it is. And it seems like

every team has great young players that come into the, the teams every year. And you can, there seems to be a superstar on almost every team. So I think the appetite for the game is high. I enjoy watching. I mean, I spent my whole entire life playing hockey and I, I still love watching the games on the, when I get a chance at night. So, and

keeping up with the players and what's going on in the tag lines and the stories behind the scenes and all that. So I like where the game is at. And to your point there, I think there's so many interesting stories and so many interesting players that could be told. But it's really up to the individuals of how deep they want to take it. And as you

can see in other sports, some players take it further than others. And so I think it's more of an individual choice. All right. Before I let you go, how does a kid from Canada wind up owning the Runaway Hill Club in the Bahamas where you fly the Canadian flag there at the resort? That looks like a nice place, man. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I, I grew

up, you know, outdoors, you know, hunting, fishing outdoors, anything to do with outdoors. I love the water. The water. The water that I could get on the off season and really kind of seemed to get away from everything after a hard season, you know, as a captain, I just wasn't living my own life. I had to live 30 lives during the course of regular season. And

it was exhausting to be honest with you. And so the summers I really took time to recharge myself. And I found that being on the water was a way I could really do that and get away from everything. And I started, you know, I fist my whole life on fresh water rivers and lakes and all that. I had 91, I started going 80 miles offshore in

a little center console boat three in the morning and fishing there. And ultimately got down to the Bahamas, which I fell in love with. I fought a 55 foot sport fisherman and we were, you know, we'd go off for months at a time fishing up and down the Behamian Islands and stopped here in Harbor Island and fell in love with the island, you know, fell in

love with the people, you know, God, I came up to run away. He'll hear and start talking to the previous owners and thought this would be a good place to hang my hat and retirement after I was playing. So that was back in. So 95s first came down here or 94 after we first went on this down the cup. And then 203, we got the hotel

and been hanging out here ever since at any chance I get Michael Jordan's a big fisherman. Have you guys ever gone fishing to greats of sports history? He's got a beautiful boat as well. He loves, he loves the waters. You know, Tiger loves a water. You know, there's a big adventure out there. As my captains used to say, there's no fences when you get out out

of the marina. And we've seen a lot of amazing stuff. We've had a lot of amazing times with family and friends. My kids growing up on the water and seeing some things that you would never see if you never got on the water. So the adventure for me was just so incredible that it's something that I'll continue to do and look for newer, greater adventures that

I've seen. So every year, Mark Messier joining us on behalf of a KSO hemp powered hydration hockey hall of fame or six time Stanley Cup champion. Make sure to follow him on Instagram at the real Mark Messier. Mark, it's a pleasure to speak with you. Best of luck in the future and hope you catch some big fish out there. I'm looking forward to it. All the

while staying hydrated. That's right. You're listening to sports business radio. We'll be right back. This episode of sports business radio has brought to you by Underdog Fantasy, the fastest growing fantasy app ever released and the official gaming partner of sports business radio. And with early investors like Mark Cuban, Kevin Durant, Adam Schaefter and Jared Goff, I know that Underdog Fantasy is made for people like me

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on the show this week, Andre Iguedola, three time MBA champion, MBA finals MVP in 2015. Also doing some incredible things in Silicon Valley. In the tech sector, he's got a company called F9 Strategies. We'll dig into all of that with Andre Iguedola on today's show. Andre, thanks for joining us on Sports Business Radio. How are you? Good, thanks for having me. Yeah, I really excited about

this conversation. Congratulations on another MBA title. We'll talk some basketball. A little bit more about this. A little bit later, but since this is a business show, I want to know how early in your career, maybe it was even at the University of Arizona. Did you understand the importance of investing and focusing on the business off the basketball court? It was probably in my early years

in the city. I have some really good veterans who I just watched move from a distance. Just seeing how they move. I was one of those rookie zoo. I used to kind of bother the veteran. Just listening to their conversation, jumping in, jumping out. I was really curious, kind of a person early on at a good agent who had some really business savvy clients. I could

talk to a lot. So even before I got to the league, I asked a few questions about that. But seeing that close and personal with some of my teammates, with the good veterans I had, but give me a good idea of, you know, I knew who it would go to. And I knew they knew someone that I could ask for. Some of the questions that I

had gone for. Your agent back then was Rob Polinka, who runs the Lakers now, correct? Correct. Yeah. So I have heard that about him that he was really good with his clients. Obviously, Kobe was one of his clients. So I would imagine, you know, if you had access to some of his other clients, you probably were able to pick some pretty smart people's brains. Yeah. So

obviously Kobe Bryant, everyone knows. But he had some, he had clients from all over the world. People are all walks of life. You know, I'm a Chris Cayman, who was from a mission area, smart guy. We teach other weddings. Cory McGatty, who I train with in the summertime in Chicago. Gerald Walls, the guy from the South, more laid back. So it seemed Carlos Booser, with another

guy who had a couple barge deals in the NBA. He had a nice, all the career. So, I was like, I'm going to go to the gym. James Hardin's and the other guys, he had Kevin Durant for a very short stint. So he had clients who were superstars, just clients who had big impact on the teams. And Derek Fisher was another one of his clients who

became a head coach at the nation. Now he's doing some broadcasting. So he's a really another type of one of those veteran guys who you can bounce things off of. Who played with Kilo Mio was one of the one of the more business savvy. And the most of his off the court endeavors and turned that into a real business after basketball. So, you know, you can

add to Derek Fisher about a lot of different things. And what he experienced, some of those teammates, such as Zach. So, you're sitting down for a pitch from someone you've done your homework and you always show up prepared. Where does that come from? Well, I was always at the grade from my early age. School. School wasn't, you know, I had a pretty strict mother who pretty

much let me know. School came first. School wasn't, it wasn't hard to, you know, so I enjoyed school. So it was something that I enjoyed. And I was very excited. So, not just basketball, I wanted to be the best at, but, you know, I wanted to be the fastest reader. I wanted to be the best at math. I wanted to have the best group projects if

I was working with anyone. So, that was just a competitive match. I guess you try to get kids to want to do better in school. For some kids, you got to tailor the way they look at things. And, you know, the way I looked at school was this kind of competition. Which is pretty funny. So, it just came natural to me. So, I knew that if

I wanted to have a good project to do well on a test or do well on the paper, then I had to know what it was about. And I had to, you know, go research and have your lead. So, it's just something that, you know, I built a really strong foundation. And it became something that's natural. So, from that point on, it just, you know, as

you go through each year's of life, you just learn how to retain information. And it's just something that formed at the end of age. It's interesting you mentioned the competitive nature off the court. Because I talked to a lot of athletes. And they tell me now, Brian, you know, it used to be we were competitive with, you know, our on the quarter, on the field things.

Some guys competitive with cars or the latest gadgets. But now it sounds like athletes are competitive with their business portfolios. Is that going on in your locker room? I mean, what are the, we don't look at it as a competition. As much. But I think we try to, you know, you know, we kind of give each other a little, you know, rare shots as far as

doing what we got access to. But we all want to keep things open for one another. And, you know, say, if I got access today, so I'm going to try to help, you know, this guy out or with this information. You know, I back steps to things that I wasn't quite clear on. And he told me or steps asked me, you know, why do you invest

in this company? He's also asking me why didn't you invest in the company that I passed on and company that I passed on and we've had conversations about that. So what our team is all about keeping information from one, keeping everyone up to date. We got so many guys who are in the tech space because it's in our backyard that there's some really good, you know,

information being thrown around. Yeah, let's dig in on that for a minute. So I read that you work with a gentleman named Rudy Klein, Thomas. You guys are business partners on the company F9 strategies. As I mentioned, earlier, how did you and Rudy meet and how did he earn your trust? So that was an interesting story as well. I had a teammate. I believe it was

my 30 year elite. And he was a rookie. So any of the rookies, you know, you try to get a good field form. She has, you can help them. You want to try to help them have the as long as a career as their body will allow them. And, you know, that they're good. We're going to come to an end. You know, that was the real

for a big player. It's four and a half years. So it's a small window. The guys got to get a lot out of it. And really there. Financial stability or financial financial education pieces is important because God everyone thinks they're going to play 10 to 15 years. It's just not possible. So, you know, each rookie you got to know, you know, you try to build relationship

with them. You know, they try to help them along the way. This particular rookie, you know, I was hanging out with a lot off the court. He's had an injury. So I was trying to help him get back on the court and making sure he's doing the right things off the court as far as being focused. And he's being locked in it. This will happen. He

was working with Rudy. They went to the same school and with their both of the private. So Rudy and I would see each other from time to time. And he, you know, he would say, I appreciate your looking after my young guy. You know, he needs to someone to stay on top of a state. Stay on about being focused. He's not being early to be late.

Just small thing. But he and I had, you know, both a relationship from that. It was never working. I was working together. It was never about that. It's just about helping someone. We both had interest in as a person. So from there, it's just the trust built from that. So you guys are equal partners in this investment firm from what I understand. And you work with

a number of different companies. Now that you've invested in the mattress online retailer Casper, the players tribune, other companies, when you're working with Rudy, how does that work? Where you guys figure out like which are the companies we want to invest in? Where do we want to pass? I imagine like to the people listening to this. There's a little bit of shark tank on this going

on, right? Definitely. You know, we have a bar. We have a role map. See how do we get to invest in the company? And we have a lot of different questions. We have, you know, obviously you want to know about the company. You want to have a great idea. You know, it's kind of like you to try to try to be a psychic and try to

read the future. You know, that they're trying to get a good feel on, you know, how it's a similar response to this. If something had to catch on to them. Sometimes you have the best ideas that you've never catch on. You know, or they just they just aren't executed as well. So you have to try to get it. A good feel for the founder and see

how they are. You definitely have to understand what the product is. But, you know, we have a lot of questions that we ask and we do. We run by each other and say, you know, this, this, this company have this, you know, we'll get along with how the chemistry with the founder, you know, what type of personality, you know, are they genuine, you know, is it

organic? By when we meet with them. How can we? We help the company, you know, or who we know that we can bring along. If we do get in, that can help the company as well. So there's a very questions that we have or a checklist. That we go through to see is this something that we want to be involved with. Yeah. It's so interesting. How

all of this is evolved for athletes. It used to be back in the day, you know, 15, 20 years ago. A company comes, demons says, Hey, we want to pay you X for an endorsement for our company. Now it seems like more athletes like yourself are more interested in the equity of a company. Obviously, there's the beat by Dre's story with LeBron, where he hit on

that. Is that kind of the ultimate goal where gosh, I want to invest in a number of different companies and hope that I go three for 10 on my investments. Yes. Yes. Perfect. We put, I think, I was just using the analogy last week. We were talking about. Investment companies and how much do you invest in, you know, what number, what's your range of investing? And

I tell, you know, all the athletes or the people that I'm talking to is, you know, it's really diversification. So you don't want to have all your eggs and more basket or have one huge bet on one company because, you know, you can miss on that one company. But having a lot of. Having a one big pot and spreading that. To many different companies as possible,

you know, now you're trying to hit 300, you know, bad 300 in Hall of Fame and baseball. And the similar in the text, you know, you're trying to bat 300. And you know, you've done some. Some good hitting just by three out of 10 because it's very risky. And that's a big part of the education piece we try to get for our athletes. We bring them

all though. We're trying to help out not just a basketball for different sports. You know, there's a risk involved. And I want you to understand this risk. And if you know that going in, then you're able to look at it from a different view. And you're able to stomach from the loss. The other thing too. I've done some work with the players, Tribune Derek, Jeeter's digital

publishing company. I know you're an investor in that. They're doing great. And they're growing. And I love their platform. But if you're an investor, like yourself, that's a long term play. Right. Like you're not going to see money back in the first few years. You've got to look at that and say, well, maybe I'll get my money back in five or 10 years, but it's not

going to come right away. So I would imagine there's some of those investments. Where it's the longer term play. Right. Yes. Most of it is the longer term play. I mean, you had a few situations where companies have been bought out, you know, fastening thought. You know, after bit or Facebook or Apple. So those always go well. But those. You know, I'm surprised. But you know,

you put yourself in the mind frame that this is a long term investment. And you know, you just keep yourself up to date. What's going on? And you know, various rounds, you know, the sea rounds or the company is close to IP. And you know, depending on the landscape, you see a lot of tech. IPO. This year, actually. And then believe you're going to see a

lot more next year. Then, you know, you kind of know it's a cycle that keeps going. You know, IPOs after a certain amount of years. The larger round of investments, we'll start back up again. So do you make a lot of money? Do you take a certain amount of money and say, okay, this is earmarked for investments? I'm not going to, you know, like this $2

million or $3 million, whatever it is, is earmarked for investments. I would imagine you, like any of us who invest, have a budget for what you're going to earmark for investments. So it's on a smaller percentage side of your total income. You know, so for athletes, we make a lot of our money and this short window of our lives. And you want to take a large

portion of that. And you want to be conservative because this, you know, you're going to hopefully you're going to live to be 90 years old. So we're done playing when we're 35. So, you know, you can't just do that. You know, if you're 65, 65 years of life remaining, that you want to spread out and you just want to live off the interest on the money

that you say. So there's that thought of it that you may have to be very conservative and be smart. But then there's, you know, like I say, diversify and take a small portion. You put it over here and this, you know, this basket. If you're interested in a tech world, if there's something that grabs your attention that you can constantly have information for one in every

day. You've got to keep yourself up to date. And you take a small portion and you divide that by all the things that are going on in the tech world. And you know, if you hit on something, then great. You know, you continue in it and, you know, you grow bigger and bigger. And that's what Rudy and myself are trying to do. You know, post career

basketball is, we built a really good foundation of being a tech. As a sports, we want to bring another lot of athletes along with it. But, you know, it's a small portion of, you know, I've talked to athletes and I've had rich climate on this show too. And the term that I've heard a lot lately is deal flow. Like you want to be brought into deal

flow where you're hearing about the crem de la crem VC opportunities. I see that you're part of the players tech summit in San Francisco. I would imagine that event brings you into those deal flow conversations. Right. Yeah, this, you know, second year, doing the players tech summit. Along with Bloomberg, they'll be posting it with us as well this year for the second time. And like I

say, we've had athletes of all different types of sports. You know, we had a professional lacrosse for the last year. The NFL guys become, because you know, they're on training camp being ready for the season. Tracking field athletes are in season two, but I've had a lot of different conversations with some of the, you know, I'm tracking for athletes, WNBA players, NBA players, obviously. Are there

as well. We have former NFL players as well. Some close friends of mine too. And then some, some, some guys are always huge fans of learn involved last year. It was a great time. You know, I expected it to be great, but it was, it was even better than I expected. And I expected to continue to grow. And just that, like you said, that deal flow

is a big part of that. You know, we've had a different media companies come in. We've had consumer based companies come in and push their product to give athletes a view. This is what it's like to be pushed for our company and what are some of the things you look for. If you want to invest, what are some of the things you look for that make

you not want to invest in guys ready for the action. Great conversations. You know, you start to deal flow. You start seeing. The people who are in some of these deals and some of the companies. You know, we get too many calls. You know, we're getting so many people wanted to be involved. We have to turn some away sadly, but it was a great event. And

we're looking forward to having annual V and 50 conversations going and hopefully that the deal flow is, you know, this the place would have deal flow. Is that for athletes? Well, I would imagine that gives you a pretty interesting seat at the table too. I mean, anything I've seen in conjunction without event, I've seen your name on it. And, you know, I think, wow, that's great

that Andre is bringing all of these people, whether they're business people are athletes together for one day at this place. That's got to give you an interesting seat at the table. Oh, definitely. So, you know, we're reaching out to all the companies that I've had access to. And then in terms, you know, some of the people that I've been some of the company that I've been

making in contact with, they said, they said, you know, because, you know, they understand that there is an influence side and there's an influence that athletes have. You know, that can bring some recognition to their company, especially with. And then you know, you know, you just, you know, now you have your pick at a letter like, you know, who do I go out? Who do I,

who do we bring along this time? And, you know, hopefully, if we miss out on someone, there's opportunity in the future. But I guess it gives me opportunity. Like, like you said, get that deal flow. And I think that's what I'm going to do. You know, continue to athlete tech, networking, seeing that, you know, athletes definitely want to be a part of. I know you mentioned

earlier that the founder of a startup is a big factor for you. But if I'm sitting down to pitch you and Rudy, and I know you sit, you know, the ski resorts are in San Francisco people sitting in a room and they pitch you. What are the elements of a successful pitch? What resonates with you if I'm in a sitting in a room and pitch you?

I wanted to be organic. I wanted to really flow. You know, you know, if you ask one question and, you know, that turns into that one question can answer, you know, five of the next questions that we have just by having a conversation and going back and forth and, you know, what are your entrance and, you know, most of the time the interest is their company.

So, you know, that's just conversations just home and it's really organic. We're just really, the information is really being shared on both sides. You know, we've invested in why we would like to invest in that company. That's a question that the founder has as well. So, you know, it's just not that's the question. The conversations more than really well. That's an important part of it. You

know, because you want to have a good relationship with the founder. You know, I'm a type of investor where I'm, you know, more passive where I don't want to interrupt. But, you know, I want them to, you know, just have the confidence that I believe in them, our team. I'm greedy in myself, believe in them and we'll do whatever on our end, you know, to help

them out. Silicon Valley where you've got access to all these great startups and pretty incredible business minds. Well, that's a key part to it, you know, that Silicon Valley is pretty much our backyard. And we feel like to really have access to something, to really be a part of something you have to be where it's happening. To really get in on it and to really make

the most. Well, of being involved, and especially, like we talked about the testing, it's in our backyard. So, it's getting easier, I would say, because you're seeing these little smaller tech clubs, we've been built at different places across the country. You know, that is, you know, you look at occur taxes, you know, you look at low spots, being built in the Midwest. You know, New York

is building it, but a small tech hub. You're looking at my ammy art. We're on the South Atlanta. So, you're seeing popping up in little pockets around a country, but, you know, it's in our backyard in the Bay Area. So, you know, it can't be a better place. But, you know, you look at the East 14 and a lot of NBA owners are invested in the

East 4 teams. So, you know, that makes it easier to have access if you're not in the Bay Area. So, you know, but as a right now, it's the hotbed and it's where it's place to be. Well, and even I know you have done traveling with Nike before. They've taken you to Asia and places all over the world. When you go to those countries, I'm sure

you look at those areas. Some of them is fertile ground for investments. I know, you know, a few years ago, actually went over to China with Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Kobe, and a few other players. And it was really eye-opening for them because they were like, wow, this is a ground that is kind of unshardered. And, you know, there's a lot of business to be done

here. It's kind of US circa 1970s. Yeah, actually, we were, we had training camp in China last, this past season. So, it was 2017 training camp. And we went to the Silicon Valley of China, which I believe was shins in. And, you know, we had a lot of great conversations like that. City was just started. It was just the city actually started in like 19. 1950,

1970. So, the city was pretty young. And to see how it's expanded is just unreal. Like you said, we wouldn't believe it. It's like in New York. And it hadn't been around for, before, you know, 40 years. And it was the tech hub of China. And you look at some of the companies like Alibaba or Tencent. And some of the things these companies are doing with

our P-O and they're able to scale. The same way Google is or Apple is. And, you know, we see Apple has a hardware company. But if you look at their subscription based products from the cloud base to the music, to content, it's, you know, they've been able to scale. And, you know, that's something I haven't talked about yet. But the company's ability to scale probably the

most important aspect of the investment. Well, when you look at China too, there are six times as many people as we have in the United States. So, so many more potential consumers, right? Yeah. And then, uh, Silicon Valley is one of my favorite shows. Mind, too. I love that show. You see, uh, one of the characters. Uh, I forgot his name, but, uh, the Asian character.

Um, he just has all the ideas. Um, that the guy has a building and he just building the same idea. And China. He's building the Chinese version because, you know, it's six times more likely to be successful, uh, just based on population alone. No, I wouldn't say based on population. That's where it's only 350 million people in America. And there's what to be in China. Yeah.

So almost seven times a lot of people. Seven times. Yeah. Seven times. So this, seven times. We're around around it right now. Six, seven times more likely to be successful, just based on population alone, not even execution. It's just based on population. When are you going to do a cameo on Silicon Valley? They got to get you on there. Yeah. I'm working on that. I'm working.

Hopefully, hopefully we, uh, we'll get done soon. You know, uh, sports world. You got to strike right on our pie. So, you know, we've been able to ask a little bit of success on the court. So, um, yeah. I'm a little jealous of Katie Katie was on billions, which is also one of my favorite shows. And they do some tech things in there. Uh, the girl

Taylor, uh, you know, she's doing some things. She started her own fun and, uh, she's ended at a tech park because she's kind of a colder engineer type type of girl. So Katie was able to be on that show and, uh, it was good to see him. See, that's all you guys have to do, though. It's just mentioned. Hey, I like this show. I'd love to

do a cameo. And most of the time it fits with your schedule. They're going to make that happen. Yeah. Yeah. Um, well, I'm a little, I'm going to, I'm going to order side. I'm still still competing really well. And I'm still playing young, but, um, you know, it's so easier for these. I'm going to be a superstar to just say, I like this show for me

on there. Uh, which they deserve, uh, rightfully. So I'm just trying to keep up with those guys and, uh, you know, hanging out with Katie and Stefan and the world there. And, uh, uh, they give me some access as well. So, you know, I have to think some things I hang out with them. And, uh, hopefully I reciprocate to I had a really good team. Uh,

recruiting and, you know, my publicism. Um, you know, my entertainment agency. So, um, I'm going to do some things. And if I can help them, I'll always try to reciprocate. Now I really like how you set your career up. You'll never remember this, but I, I did some consulting for Nike years ago. So I saw you at Nike All America camp when you were really young.

And then I even saw you like an Augusta at the peach jam, uh, coaching some AAU teams. And I've always liked how you carry yourself. You've always been very mature, very business like, very professional. Um, I think you're a great dresser. You know, like, I look at some of this stuff that James Harden and Russell Westbroker wearing and they look like they're coming to press conferences

with pajamas on and, and I much prefer like your fashion sense and, and you're on the coverage. EQ and not to rip on on Ross and, and Harden. But like, I, I like your style. And I like how you do things. And, uh, you know, so congratulations on that. But one of the things that you've done extremely well is like you just said, you've been able

to prolong your career. You've been playing for a long time. Now, how do you do that? How do you keep yourself in peak shape? Because you're playing long seasons now, Andre. I mean, got the regular season. But then you're playing another few months when you're competing for championships. Yeah. The last four seasons have been very long and I first appreciate it. Uh, the compliment. Um, I'm

actually a fan of Russ and James style because it fits them. So I'm on right. That's true. Uh, all they say just I have a picture. So it's more of a purpose thing. But, you know, I was a little bit different. But as far as the season, um, there's no all season anymore. That's just how you have to look at it. Um, probably the last two

weeks, three weeks, uh, I've been able to just really shut it down and kind of relax. And I've really cheated pretty bad on my diet. But I think having gained any weight. If anything, I might have lost two pounds. So, uh, my, my DNA structure is pretty good as far as being athlete. But I'm pretty strict. Um, doing training and doing the season with my diet

and what I'm taking. And, you know, so much technology out there. There's so much information as far as, you know, they can you draw your blood and tell you what your body needs. What your body uses better for you face versus someone else. You know, how can I help faster? You know, what nutrients or what vitamins are best for me? So, um, you know, our team's

on top of all that. Uh, you're starting to see a lot of organizations. It's like, you know, it's not just, you know, sign an athlete up and the play, you know, we're really trying to get the most out of that lead. Um, and their health is a huge part of that, you know, it goes all the way to sweet, you know, only hours and item to

sleep, tracking my sleep. Um, you know, making the most of that time in the gym because I can't spend as much time in the gym as I used to be where I could be in a gym. Working out, but you know, there's a lot of old that comes with that. And now it's just working. Not harder, but not just harder, but smarter. You know, so actually

working shorter amount of time. It's being more efficient. It's more out the workout. Other things off the court as well. You know, with yoga or meditation, um, add those things to so, um, you know, the life's pretty busy, especially with a new, newer kid now that the young baby just turned on. So, congratulations. Thanks. Got three kids running around and just trying to explode with him.

You seem to be like Benjamin button every time I see you like you, you look like you're getting younger and here's a business idea for you. If you can cheat on your diet and lose two pounds, I think anyone was signed up for how you're able to do that. So, uh, clue us in on that before I let you go, just a few basketball questions. So

you guys just signed to Marcus cousins. I look at your team and it seems like you're just getting stronger and stronger. How are you able to keep that core together? I know you're not the GM, but from a four, it seems like you have such a good chemistry on that team and that you genuinely like each other on that roster. Yeah, well, we've been able to

put a really stable culture. What we stand for. And I think that starts with a step curry. Who is here for all of us? And, you know, just what the team is. The team was trying to build as far as the type of character of where they want it. And he has a very strong personality. And I say that as far as you won't waver as

far as who he is as a person. You know, you never go into work wondering what's going to be like on that particular day. I'm a normal four or five years. He's the same person every single day. You know, just that. So I'm a human being and that's very hard to say for the six billion people on this planet is very rare. You run to a

guy like that. So he sets the foundation. Men as talented as you just unique as well. And then from there, we know you have play times and just, you know, you grew up in the NBA as well. So we know it's what it's about. You know, he's not. Dream on green. Complement those two. Well, because, you know, not to say constantly opposite, but he comes with

that hunger. Like, you know, I haven't been able to have much to my life. So I'm going to go out and get it. And he's that guy that makes the most out of his career, you know, being a six, six, being a powerful. Part of a thousand experiences, even though I think we're going to see someone who has a really got Gart and centers, and that

shit knows guys down it. You can go all the way down the line and, you know, people just enjoy doing their job at this Pierce farm. And that's what we try to do. And that's how we were able to go out and git free eight and say, here, you want to play basketball, the way it's supposed to be played and you want to have fun while

you're doing it. And we'll help the guys with the media because that's a whole different side that comes with it. But, you know, we try to have fun with that as well. You know, it's pretty much 24 hour access to us doing a season. So guys, I just want to be a part of something special when they want to, they want to be able to smile

every day when they go to work and we try to build that environment. You guys have won three of the last four NBA championships. I was listening to Serena Williams two days ago at a post Wimbledon press conference and someone asked her about what makes her great. And she says, everyone always plays me at their greatest. So I have to be greater. And I thought about

our conversation today and the fact that you guys have a target on your back. And when you play a team, whether it's regular season or playoffs, they are bringing you their absolute best. How hard is it to maintain the level that you guys have maintained when the other team is playing at their peak in order to try and compete with you? Well, we've got a little

bit, we've been blessed to timing wise and how things have been a lot. We've been going through a lot of times for us. You know, you talk about, you know, you're getting a roster and how it's built, you know, a baseball. You know, staff have an ankle injury and, you know, his salary being below his mark about you, you say early on. We were able to

make moves based on that and Katie and now the Marcus cousin because his injury was able to take a lower salary times of us for a year. So this things like that. And getting with Steve Kurt at the right time, you know, having March, Jackson early on kind of, you know, helping that foundation and getting Steve Kurt right as we were about to pitch him being

the really great fit for this team while we were peaking. And he had what was in five rings before he even got to us. So he's been able to understand the three of those rings were in consecutive years. So he understands what us. What it feels like to compete every single day and take everyone's best shot every single day plan because he was able to get

the right of the record of the record of Michael Jordan. So we always say, you know, it may look rock before at times, but we'll always end up end up the most prepared team in the NBA because we get everyone's best shot 82 times per season. So we're the most prepared because we've faced. We've had the best practice, you know, to prepare for the post season.

So and we try to take those 82 games as preparation for the playoffs. Last question for you. I know you're an avid golfer. I know Steph plays and I've heard that he wants to play on the tour when he's done. What are you? I mean, do you just enjoy playing golf or do you look at your your post career and go, you know what, I might

want to try and play on the tour, whether it's the the senior tour or the regular tour. I know Ben on that. If there is something I can put a lot of money on, I'm responsible. But if that's something I would bet on, I'm not a bad guy. Actually, on anything, but I bet on that. I watched some shoot. Easy 67. Wow. Very at a very

tough course. Very tough course. And we have like a six amount there and he started off with a birdie and they would a birdie and he's hit the ball alone. And he used to have like a six. Like a little fake, but I ain't got a little draw. So ball goes farther. He is just it's actually fun to watch him play golf. Like when I'm playing

with him, I got to play well because I'm just. To involve the watching him. So ensure games good. He can put the ball. He can put the ball really well. So he'll be on tour sometimes soon and hopefully. I'll have done really well in the tech world and I can buy a patch on it. Like something like quality. Something like a company like quality. So you

see I'm pretty good friends with the founder of that company as well, which is a survey based enterprise company. So that's what my that's what my thoughts are. That's awesome. Yeah. I see. Farge being involved in the golf. Like I saw smolts play a champions tour event recently. And he's a really good golfer. But when you go against the best golfers, that's hard. But you know,

I've heard from people other than just. He's you saying that staff is like legit. Like he could play on the tour. If he wants to at some point. Yeah, he. He played in web.com. The event last year and didn't finish last. And you think about it. That's not a day job. Right. And I. I would I'll take a little bit of credit. So I'll prepare or

we play like nine holes a day before. That was like his preparation. Like nine holes. He was trying to figure out which ball he was using. He was like, I'm hit two balls off the TV on my say whatever you need. That was kind of like his caddy for today. And he was trying to figure out which ball to use. And he like I say, he

didn't finish last, which is amazing. And it was something funny. There. He was telling me that. There was a young kid in this one of his group. So he was paired with one of the days, one of the two days. He didn't make the cut. And his mom says some tour might mid-round. Like, can you please stop getting ball passed my son? Like it's a little

embarrassing. Like you don't even practice like this isn't your your day job. And you're I hear it. You know, he had no idea. He's not too tall. The play golf is kind of got the perfect height. Like six, three, six, four, which is like around DJ and some of those longer hitters. So he's not too tall. But at the same time he's able to use his

height and link. And he's got the hand. You know, he's got the hand. I switched thing. That just make some really good at all types of sports. Like he's good at darts bowling golf. This football baseball all those sports. He's got the hand. I think. It has been a pleasure speaking with you here on sports business radio. Keep up the great work. I'm very happy for

your success. Like I said, I've watched you for a long time. Big fan of how you conduct your business on and off the court. I think you're the coach on the court for that team. I really do. I watched you during the playoffs and saw how you. You know, coach guys, even when you were hurt. And I think you're just such a big part of the

success of that team. So. And I'm excited for your business ventures as well. I'll watch those closely. Thank you for joining us on sports business radio. I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. You're listening to sports business radio. I'll be right back. Hey, everyone. Brian Berger here. Ron is the new official menswear partner of sports business radio. I love their product. I've

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