NBA News Wire
Reports: Tatum to succeed Silver
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Deputy commissioner Adam Silver will recommend to the NBA’s Board of Governors that Mark Tatum succeed him when he takes over as commissioner, according to multiple reports.
Commissioner David Stern is retiring and Silver will succeed him Feb. 1. Tatum is the NBA’s executive vice president of global marketing partnership.
Tatum has worked in the NBA since 1999. He oversees marketing for the NBA, WNBA, NBA Development League and USA Basketball. He is the main point person with some of the NBA’s biggest sponsors, including Coke, Nike and Gatorade. He has also forged new relationships with companies including Diageo, which is the NBA’s official spirits sponsor this season.
In addition, Tatum has brought in corporations including Cisco and SAP to work with the NBA. Cisco’s TelePresence is used throughout team arenas. He is also responsible for the NBA’s sales of its media-affiliated groups, including NBA TV and NBA.com, and its sales with media partners ESPN, ABC and TNT.
If he is approved by the NBA’s owners, Tatum, who is African-American and Vietnamese, will become the highest ranking executive of color in a professional sports league. His approval is expected to be a formality.
“It’s smart of Adam not picking from the usual suspects,” a league source told NBA.com. “He already has great relationship with all of the sponsors.”
Before coming to the NBA, Tatum worked for Major League Baseball, Clorox, Pepsi, and Proctor and Gamble.
