‘I always wanted to do for self’: Arron Afflalo hopes to grind his way to NBA ownership

Audacious dreams only require sustained belief. And here we find Arron Afflalo, the former guard who had a solid 11-year NBA career, during which he made very good, if not max, money — and who has quickly pivoted to a dream that may seem far-fetched on the surface: putting a group together to buy an NBA team.

But the 35-year-old Afflalo has spent much of the last year doing just that, working with multiple significant financial players to try to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves. That bid fell short; though Afflalo did get multiple meetings with Wolves governor Glen Taylor, who entered into a letter of intent last month with a group led by former Walmart CEO Marc Lore and retired baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez, who plan to buy the team for $1.5 billion.

Lore and Rodriguez are in the midst of their 30-day exclusive window to finalize the purchase from Taylor, and there’s nothing to indicate the agreement will fall through before a likely approval by the NBA’s Board of Governors.

If, for some reason, that purchase does fail, through, Afflalo and his group would hope to re-engage. Otherwise, he’ll continue on his unlikely path of the last 10 months, identifying and partnering with people who have the kind of financial connections a just-retired grinder of a player like him doesn’t usually possess in pursuit of the next team that comes on the market.

Afflalo has been getting a rapid education since retiring as a player in 2019. Living between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, he’s working on getting into gaming and hospitality projects in Vegas, looking for brands that will share a vision of hotels that cater both to sports and to African-American culture.

His buying into an NBA team would mark a sea change in the league’s ownership groups. Michael Jordan remains the only former Black player to have a majority ownership stake, with the Hornets.

Afflalo wasn’t a superstar player, and he didn’t make superstar coin. He seems to be following the pattern of a Junior Bridgeman, who had a very similar arc as a player, primarily with the Bucks, in the 1970s and early ’80s — no flash, a worker — but who pivoted to a post-playing career that has made him one of the wealthiest former players on record, at a reported $600 million. Bridgeman achieved his wealth through buying and franchising Wendy’s and Chili’s restaurants around the country, then branching out into other businesses like Coca-Cola; he became a bottling partner with the soft drink giant in 2016. And Bridgeman bought the legacy Black magazine Ebony for $14 million earlier this year, rescuing the famed publication out of bankruptcy.

Afflalo’s path is different, though he showed early on that he knew how to make a buck, selling donuts for profit at his junior high school in Compton, Calif., that he bought on the way to school. (One of his classmates followed Afflalo’s journey from junior high school to UCLA, where he made consecutive Final Fours, including the title game in 2006, and then to the NBA, where Afflalo was a first-round pick of the Pistons in 2007. That classmate soon changed his name from Kendrick Duckworth, using his middle name as his last name instead. And Kendrick Lamar soon became a megastar. Lamar immortalized Afflalo’s grind in the song “Black Boy Fly” on his triple-platinum album “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” in 2012.)

Afflalo believed his presence as a Black governor of the Wolves could help heal Minneapolis, a city roiled in the last 12 months by the killing of George Floyd by an on-duty police officer, Derek Chauvin, a year’s worth of protests against police brutality of African-American citizens and Chauvin’s trial and subsequent conviction on all counts last month. Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder and up to 10 years for second-degree manslaughter.

Afflalo felt a kinship with the team due to his relationship with the late Flip Saunders, his coach in Detroit, who was better known for his extended run in Minnesota as a coach and GM. And Afflalo also knows Ryan Saunders, Flip’s son, who also was head coach of the Wolves before being fired earlier this year. But Afflalo will pursue other teams that come on the market in the coming years, looking for a partnership that will allow him to fulfill his vision of grinding his way to the top echelon of the league’s power brokers.

I just have a unique personality. I do have a little sister, but I grew up as an only child, ’cause we never truly lived together — right when she was born, I moved with my father to Compton. I think it’s just a personality thing. I always wanted to do for self. I love math. I always loved math as a subject. Just being a thinker, how to relate to people. That’s how I met Kendrick Lamar. I started selling donuts. I sold CDs. I’ve been like this since I was maybe 11 years old. I would wake up at 6 in the morning and go do stuff, make it happen.

I wanted this piece of jewelry that cost 80 bucks in the mall. It was an old-school herringbone chain. I got it from the movie “Friday,” just watching Chris Tucker wear this herringbone chain. But it cost 80 bucks. And I was like, damn, I’ll never get that. No way. So I just started taking pre-orders for donuts in the morning, that cost me 60 cents at this local donut spot in Compton that a lot of people couldn’t get to. But they loved the donuts. And I would just stop. I would get the money from the kids the day before, for a dollar. So I had to earn their trust. And they would give me a dollar at school the day before, and the donuts cost 60 cents. So I would make 40 cents profit. I’d probably do a dozen donuts a day, so I was making about $4 a day. And I got my chain by the end of the month.

I was a classic guy. I really just focused on playing. I’m not going to say I had a great entrepreneurial spirit while I was playing. But my first contract, my first major contract, was during the lockout year, 2011. And I got really intrigued in speaking with (then-National Basketball Players Association General Counsel) Ron Klempner and (then-NBPA Executive Director) Billy Hunter at that time. I was heavily involved, for a young guy. I had incentive.

In ’19 I was still, quote-unquote, trying to play a little bit. And then, I just walked away from it. And then, obviously, the pandemic hit. I went right into big business and using relationships, and literally found myself here today. There’s not a lot of in-between story.

I want to point to something, but I only do things to be the best that I can be. That’s my motivating spirit. … It’s tailored for my leadership qualities to go for the best. I didn’t have a desire to be a coach or a GM. I wanted to have the ultimate influence and the ultimate impact. Also, some of the events — we talk about Kobe (Bryant) a little bit, and we talk about the social justice times that we are in. It just seemed fitting for a mentality to go for the best.

That answer’s pretty easy. If this were any other team, I don’t think I would have had the equal fighting spirit. Knowing Ryan Saunders and knowing Flip Saunders very well, along with the George Floyd situation. … And then when you combine that with the space I was in with the hotel stuff, dealing with billionaire companies and billionaire people, it just created a natural synergy for Minnesota. I just felt that I could help, and be inspirational at the same time. I want to give a lot of credit to Ryan Saunders and Flip Saunders, and all that that city has been through, and Mr. Taylor, for that matter, recognizing that.

I’ll tell you one thing: Mr. Taylor is really sharp. For 80 years old, he’s really sharp. He’s had over 80 businesses throughout his career. And he understands people. …  As a person, I learned a lot from him. I was most thankful because he continuously gave me an opportunity when I came with failed investors, or failed opportunities. He literally worked with me hand in hand for nine months. He was as accessible as I needed him to be. And so, he was a normal guy. I didn’t feel pressure that I was speaking to the owner of a team. The first time we spoke, he said, ‘look, Arron – I don’t know you. I know of you. Your fighting spirit is unbelievable. And if you need anything from me when speaking to investors, please call me.’ He was very accommodating.

Three factors that I would want out there. I think I’m achieving some good initiatives for the league, in terms of minority ownership, giving a former player a real opportunity. As we know, most of our league is African American from players, but it’s not reflected in executive levels, let alone ownership. So some of those obvious things. The ability to heal the city. A franchise that, as you know, the NBA is a parent company of other franchises. And we need all the franchises to be doing well. We don’t need four or five teams lagging in support, or draining the league financially. My perspective is making it a winning team, a winning city. And being 35 years old, unlike Michael Jordan, I’ll be a former player with over 11 years’ experience, who can relate to today’s players, because I shared locker rooms with them. And Mr. Taylor asked me all the time: ‘look, Arron, if we get this done, can you get me this, can you get me that? That is the least of my concerns, is getting the players we need. Because I was that guy on every team – just being a grinder, like you mentioned, from a bench guy to a leading scorer, understanding what the players really go through at every level.

For me, personally, it’s leaning on people that can do those things. I go back to…some insiders that understand that city, that I would just lean on, heavily, in terms of their relationships. That’s always been my plan, to start with the people I know, from an executive level, that understand the business of basketball and how what you do on the court (impacts) into the city, and how you represent the city. It would not be me. There’s no way I could ever take credit. I could have a vision, like you said, but it would be a groundswell, connecting, using those political relationships. It’s really leaning on people – leaning on people to get abreast and make that happen. But there’s one thing they can’t take away from me: I grinded to that position, and I’m Black. Those are the two things that, if that’s respected, let’s start there.

It’s been, again, I don’t want to get on the motivation or faith tip, but that’s what I’ve had to rely on. It’s very difficult. Unless you’re a multi-billionaire, single check writer, and it’s your money, and you don’t have to deal with any other people but you, it’s very difficult. Because you have to manage people. You have to manage egos. You have to manage future endeavors, peoples’ legacy. You have to manage the times. It’s far more than just the transaction and understanding the nuances. And you have to do all of this stuff without leakage. The only way I’m in this position and fighting is the belief that this is meant for me. That these circumstances are fitting for my personality and the people involved. Without that notion…I now understand why there’s not more of us there. It takes a lot. If you don’t have money, yourself, what in your upbringing is allowing you to maneuver? If you’re not LeBron James? How is it possible (people) of this wealth or this business acumen, who didn’t rely on athleticism, would even trust you or relate to you? And that’s been the hardest thing about this process, let alone getting through people who are just fraudulent, who say they have the money and don’t have it. Sniffing that out, I’ve been better with over time. It’s just life experience of understanding people that you can’t teach. You’ve just got to go through it. And most people don’t have the energy or the money or the desire to reach this level of business.

I know now. Even wealthy folks, this is a different level. Liquidity, we always read about these networks that people have. But who’s really got this type of money in the bank to make this deal happen? And that’s when you start shifting through who’s fraudulent, who’s really rich and who’s truly wealthy. To get into that stratosphere takes a lot of luck, and humility.