After transferring from community college, I was an eager 20-year-old junior at UC Irvine. During the previous summer, I had spent some time at a local accounting firm as a student visitor, but it left me searching for a career path.

That changed in January 2019 at a Sports Business Association meeting with guest speaker Larry Coon, the famed expert of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement and the general manager of the Sports Business Classroom Immersive in Las Vegas. It was my first exposure to a unique industry built around the game I loved.

I was well aware of the NBA’s broadcasting deal spike in 2016 that led to the Golden State Warriors signing Kevin Durant in free agency, but I had no idea that there were people like Larry who made a career out of knowing the rules behind the contracts. I wanted to learn more.

Larry introduced me to SBC, and I was intrigued by the existence of a class solely focused on the business of basketball. I needed to do my due diligence, reaching out to former program students. I consulted with Larry, was convinced that the program had my best interest at heart, and applied to be a salary cap major.

I managed to cover the tuition by taking advantage of the early bird discount. When July finally arrived, I got in my car and drove to Las Vegas.

Opening night, I assembled with my fellow students for the first time outside Strip View Pavilion at UNLV. We talked about hoops, family, careers, schools, and whether we had made a wise financial investment in the program.

During the welcome reception, Larry mentioned that his staff would be looking for top performers to bring back the following year as interns. I naturally assumed that the best students would be those studying the business for years. I had only set my mind on a career in sports about six months earlier when I first met Larry.

I initially felt very out of place as I saw how large the gap was between being a fan (of the Los Angeles Lakers) and being a passionate follower of the game. I realized quickly I would need to study the cap situation of all 30 NBA franchises.

Any discouragement didn’t last long due to the kindness of fellow students and SBC staff, who made me feel like I deserved to be there. Some were just like me at the beginning of their careers. Others were well past college and had established themselves. Others seemed to navigate the Mock Trade Deadline with ease. I wasn’t the most experienced, but I felt seen and heard as part of a community.

My goal throughout the week was to make as many new friends as possible and fully immerse myself in anything the program had to offer. During Q&A with ESPN’s Zach Lowe (host of The Lowe Post), I decided to stand up and tell him he was the inspiration for my basketball podcast, “The Do Post.”

That led to my new nickname, “Do Post,” and I gained a bunch of new listeners from my incredibly supportive classmates. Any trepidation we may have had ahead of the program was long gone, as the program was fantastic.

On the final day, I was shocked and honored to be selected as one of the top-four students in the class and invited back to intern for SBC and Summer League. Because of COVID, I had to wait until 2021. While working as an SBC intern, I crossed paths with the Los Angeles Clippers’ director of basketball communications. I introduced myself and explained what I was working on at Summer League. When I was job searching soon after, I saw that the Clippers PR department was hiring for their communications game night staff. I reached out to the director, who set up an interview and just like that, the team hired me. I’m now in my second year as a game night staffer and looking to get to the next step in sports PR.