Jason Glushon (07B) has become one of the most successful agents for the National Basketball Association (NBA). He negotiated the most lucrative contract extension in NBA history for Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown on July 25.
As Brown’s agent, Glushon said he is excited to have been part of this contract negotiation process.
“That’s the fun part about our job is to get to be a small part of that,” Glushon said. “But he’s earned his contract, and he deserves every penny that was negotiated.”
In addition to Brown, Glushon’s agency represents several high-profile NBA clients, including Duncan Robinson, Donte DiVincenzo, Jeff Green, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Marcus Smart and Spencer Dinwiddie. Among his clients, DiVincenzo and Green also signed large contracts this summer. Glushon said his client-focused business model sets his agency apart from competitors.
“Everyone preaches family, and we don’t only preach it; we try to live it out through actions,” Glushon said. “The clients, I think, appreciate that.”
Glushon grew up as a die-hard sports fan, rooting for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Lakers, his hometown teams. His passion for professional sports translated into management once he came to Emory University.
He went on to receive his undergraduate degree from the Goizueta Business School with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2007 and a Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School (Calif.) in 2016.
Glushon gained exposure to the “sports agent world” while interning at Wasserman Media Group (WMG) under Arn Tellem in his junior year at Emory. He eventually worked at WMG for seven years and left a week before graduating law school to start Los Angeles-based Glushon Sports Management. Glushon said leaving WMG to start Glushon Sports Management from scratch was “scary, different and kind of an adventure.”
“We started out with no clients and just a wealth of experience working for some really good mentors and have slowly built it up into a nice practice so far,” Glushon said. “But [we] still have a long way to go.”
Glushon said he attracted Robinson to his agency very early on in the founding of his firm, using his background as a NCAA Division III sports to connect with athletes.
“Duncan Robinson, like myself, is a former Division III athlete,” Glushon said. “I always believe that shooting is the most important thing in the NBA, so [I] was able to seek him and his family out on the earlier side when he transferred to Michigan [from Williams College (Mass.)] and develop the relationship.”
While Brown is an NBA All-Star, commentators like former guard JJ Redick, who played in the NBA for 15 seasons, would argue that Brown is not one of the five or 10 best basketball players in the world. Some fans may wonder why Brown would then receive the most lucrative contract in NBA history.
Goizueta Professor of Marketing Michael Lewis explained that the trend of large NBA contracts is similar to the quarterback market in the National Football League. As the market for high-profile NBA players is likely set by comparables, new contracts negotiated use the dollar amounts of previous contracts as precedent for players of similar talent.
Lewis believes that agents will use comparables as “the starting point,” but they will also use “anything they can think of on the edges” to help market the player to earn the most lucrative contract possible.
While it has been 16 years since Glushon attended Emory, he believes that Emory “did a really good job preparing [him] for the business world.” As a former pitcher for the Emory baseball team, Glushon still keeps in close contact with the Emory athletic and alumni departments.
During his senior year in 2007, Glushon had a 13-2 record, threw 112 strikeouts and had a 2.23 earned run average. He has continued to support the Emory community since graduating.
“I had an unbelievable experience at Emory,” Glushon said. “I still try to go back yearly for my Emory baseball alumni weekends. I’m still close with a number of coaches in the athletic department. And a few times, I’ve gone back to the business school where I graduated to speak to some current students.”
Lewis expressed excitement, yet not surprised, to hear about Glushon’s successful career in sports management.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Lewis said. “I hear that kind of interest from a lot of students that take my classes. Some of that probably comes down to the type of students that Emory attracts.”
