All Things NBA with Kyle Kuzma, Buddy Hield and Adam Silver

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0:38If you're playing money ball with a huge bag of money, you're going to be really, really good. Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr, along with my colleagues Damian Sassauer and Vanessa Berdomo. Coming up on the show, with training camps getting underway, we'll do a full court press on all things NBA. We'll hear from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who sat down with the Bloomberg Originals chief correspondent Jason Kelly to talk the state of the league and the economic power of sports.

1:15Nelson Mandela famously said sport has the power to change the world. I'm almost sure when he said that he wasn't thinking of change the world from an economic standpoint. It was more in terms of the spirit of the people. But now jump ahead all these years to the present. We're now on a global basis. Sports has become a trillion dollar sector of the economy. Plus, Damian, Vanessa and our pal Bloomberg U.S. sports business reporter, Randall Williams, speak with Golden State Warriors shooting guard Buddy Heald to get a preview of the upcoming season and some of his off the court ventures. That's straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.

1:57But we start with a special conversation Vanessa had with Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma. They sat down at Sports Beach in Cannes, France to talk about some of Kuzma's many business ventures. Let's take a listen to that conversation. I want to talk from the beginning, from your entrepreneur journey, from your business journey. 2017, you're drafted into the league. You start making money. When do those wheels start turning about? How do I save my money? where do I invest it? How does that work for you when when from the start? Right away, literally right away. And I think that I've been very blessed and grateful to have a lot of good positive role models in my life.

2:33And I think maybe not my first check, my first check was a car. But other than that, I think my second check went towards a real estate investment. And I think right from then, you know, I knew right away, especially as an athlete, you don't have that much time to play. You know, you may have God willing 10 years, right? A lot, especially for us, the average career is three to four years. So I knew right away that I had to be smart with my money because it can go quick just like our careers. So. So why real estate? Why was that the first one? Safe. Yeah. Yeah. The safest thing. You know, I think that for me, beyond it being safe, it's something that I've drawn to.

3:16I love art and I think architecture is something that's huge to me. And I think that, like I said, beyond the investment aspect, I'm just drawn to properties. So the art of like the architecture, that's what you're looking into when you're looking into real estate or? Sometimes for sure. A hundred percent. I think some of the real estate things I'm doing now intertwine with that art perspective. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. So was it a mentor that told you to get into real estate when you first did it? Or was it just, I know this is safe, I want to go into it. A little bit of that, but also I have a pretty knowledgeable financial advisor that really kind of walked me through, you know, what investing looks like outside of just stocks and bonds and the stock market.

4:00And real estate was obviously one of the things that he was knowledgeable about to put me into. And I think that from there, from that little house in New Jersey that I kind of renovated and flipped to all the great things I'm doing And now I can accredit it to that early age, you know, classroom class. Then you in 2021, you co-founded the company Barcode, which is a sports during company. Tell us about that and why you wanted to create something there instead of joining a being an ambassador for an existing company. Yeah, I would say I think for that perspective, prior to that, you know, I had a bunch of deals being ambassador, being influencer, whether it was, you know, the Gatorades of the world and these other drink companies.

4:52And I wanted to do something that was, you know, my own. Right. You know, I think a lot of times, you know, in this space and especially as an athlete, you want to be able to call something your own. Right. Right. So, you know, co-founding Barcode was one of my first, you know, type of venture situations getting in and starting a company. And I learned a lot of really valuable lessons from it. And it's a brand that's been around for, you know, five plus years and we're moving the chain. So, yeah. What were those early lessons that you learned that was different for you than investing in and growing a business?

5:29Like, what were those different things that you learned? It's not easy. Yeah, it's definitely not easy. It's a lot of work that goes into it. And I think that, you know, if you're starting a business, especially as an athlete or really anybody, it's all about being in the weeds. It's all about understanding what you're getting yourself into and trying to learn as much as you can, because especially in like the CPG space, there's so many companies. Right. There's oversaturation in every little instance. Right. So what's going to be the difference between you and somebody else? And I think that's knowledge in a sense and learning how to move.

6:08How do you balance that, being so involved in your businesses and playing at the same time? How do you balance all of these different hats that you wear? It's a great question. I think I love what I do. I think I love being an entrepreneur. I love being a basketball player first and foremost. And I have a great team around me. I think that's the biggest thing. If I didn't have a team around me that, you know, could handle every little thing that I'm doing, I really wouldn't be nothing. And I would only really be a basketball player. Right. So. So we're in Cannes, which is all about Rosé. But you have a tequila brand that you're a partner with, Casa del Sol Tequila.

6:52Tell me about that and how you got involved. Obviously, a lot of times we like to do things and have things for our own. Right. but I'm a basketball player and it's a little bit hard to have my own tequila or have your own tequila. So partnering with somebody was huge and Casa del Sol was that for me. You know, I think for me, it's all about art and the storytelling of things beyond, you know, just, you know, the business avenues that you can kind of get into. And Casa del Sol is amazing. You know, it's a tequila, which I love. You know, it's my favorite drink. And the storytelling of like, you know, Mexico and tequila and we have an amazing co-founder, which is Eva Longoria, which is a really, really good personal friend.

7:41I really wanted to partner with them because they know what they're doing. Right. I think that's also a big thing you should always think about when partnering with brands or getting into things like what's under the hood. You know, there's so many things out there. There's so many, you know, for instance, Ferraris with Honda engines. Right. So, you know, seeing Casa, seeing where it's been from, you know, year one to now year three is amazing. And I'm just very, very happy to, you know, be a part of it. Yeah. And so it sounds like that intentionality also partnering with Eva because of the trust there.

8:21Can you talk about the whenever you go into businesses, how you do intentionally with who you're getting into business with? A hundred percent. You know, Eva is a amazing woman, amazing businesswoman, entrepreneur in her own right. And I think that as an athlete, you know, you want to be around greatness and you want to surround yourself around successful people. And I think, you know, even looking at Casa beyond Eva, you know, there's a great infrastructure there. And I think that a lot of times when you go into partnering and investing, you know, beyond, you know, the glitz and the glamour of how things look or the packaging, like what's under the hood and who's operating is the most important thing.

9:06Because if you don't have that, then all the bells and whistles are just bells and whistles. So another thing that you're obviously very passionate about is fashion. And your tunnel fits have become some of the most iconic, notorious ever. I think I'm in just a much different space now. You know, I think that fashion for me is something that, like you just said, you just mentioned that in this interview. Like, you know that about me. So I don't really have to, you know, overdo it and overshow it as much. You know what I mean? You know, because it's never really been something that I wanted to show and, you know, this is look at me.

9:45You know, it's just I love art, you know, beyond fashion. You know, art is here and then fashion is like a subsector, right? And, you know, I just needed a break. You know, I think that if you look at like the fashion industry, you know, and also within athletes and sports, you know, it's a great cohesion place. And we collide and it's great and it's great, you know, symmetry. But I was just looking for much more in the fashion space that I wasn't getting. And what do you mean by that? Well, you know, there's so many brands that we wear, right? It's free marketing for them. It's literally free marketing.

10:24I'll give you a prime example. So you just talked about Tunnel Fits and the pink sweater that I wore. That was huge. That went all over the world. It had about 65 million impressions. I mean, that was like the last thing I heard years ago about it. But I didn't get paid for that. And I wasn't looking to get paid for that. But that shows you just the influence of what, you know, athletes have with fashion that kind of goes under the rug a little bit. Right. So, Kyle, we started off the conversation talking about how your first investment was in real estate. How has it evolved now and what's your portfolio looking like these days?

11:03Oh, tremendously from just a single family flip. Going from that to working with multi-units into investing into pretty much ecosystems and resorts. You know, I partner with a great friend of mine, Access Real Estate. And, you know, we really try to find properties and locations that are like, you know, really like once in a lifetime and things that you really can't touch. You know what I mean? Whether it's PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, right? The Arizona Biltmore that is an unbelievable property, landmark culturally in Arizona. Those are the things that I'm really into when I speak about the art aspect.

11:54And obviously, the investment part is also very, very important. Those are the things that I'm really looking into that really, really excite me. That's Kyle Kuzma, forward for the Milwaukee Bucks, speaking with our Vanessa Perdomo at Sport Beach in Cannes, France. Up next, we stick with basketball and we hear from another NBA player, Buddy Hilde of the Golden State Warriors. It's been fun. Those guys are being tremendous. Just being able to learn from Steve, Steph, from the front office, to the owners, to the fan base. Everybody's been great to work with. I can speak wonders about those guys, especially Steph, Dre, and Jimmy.

12:35They opened their arms as little brothers. They're being big brothers to me. And I just can't talk about how much I'm so much impressed about their leadership and how they can go over their day and their lives and their family, their businesses and how it is. And it is a joy to be working with. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.

13:03This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, and we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr. We are talking all things NBA today with training camps just getting underway. My colleagues Damian Sassauer, Vanessa Perdomo, and Bloomberg U.S. sports business reporter Randall Williams sat down with Golden State Warriors shooting guard Buddy Hilde for a look ahead to the upcoming NBA season, plus to talk about some of his business ventures off the court. Let's take a listen to that conversation. You know, what's it like to play with Steph, Dre Green, I mean, Jimmy Butler?

13:46I mean, what are your chances this year? How are things looking? It's been great, you know, just being there, being able to be a sponge, you know, and open arms. Great organization, you know, of course, of what they've done in the past. And the quest they're still on to get to another championship, you know, it's been fun. those guys are being tremendous just being able to learn from Steve, Steph from the front office to the owners to the fan base, everybody's being great to work with I can speak wonders about those guys especially Steph, Dre and Jimmy they open their arms as little brothers they're being big brothers to me I just can't just talk about how much I'm impressed about their leadership and how they go over their day and their lives and their family, their businesses, and they just enjoy to be working with me.

14:43Buddy, I love how you're saying that. You're saying that you're a sponge and you're learning so much from them, but you're not new to this league either, right? You've been in the league for a while. You've played on a bunch of different organizations. So how would you compare your experience here and how you're still able to learn as someone who has been in the league for a while? You know, because it's so crazy. like coming in the league, I've only been on, I've been on a few veteran teams. And I guess when I was in New Orleans, when I first got drafted, I was only there for three months and I got traded to Sacramento.

15:14And then when I got to Sacramento, it was a young team and I was like the oldest on the team because they found out all the older guys. But I was able to learn from like Zach Randall, George Hill, Zeebo, you know, and after Harrison Barnes came around, I was able to learn from Harrison Barnes how to take care of myself and how to like work. And then after that, I went to Indiana and it was just, you know, bunch around a young team again. But I had a veteran coach in Ricard out, and after I got traded to Philly, and then after that, it was just not that long. But I was able to, like, when I got to the Warriors, I was able to, like, just, you know, as I got older, they picked their brains and see how they go about their days and how they go about their lives, and from they carry themselves on the court, off the court.

15:54So I was more of a sponge because, you know, playing the Warriors and seeing the Warriors, like, you know, like, you know, they do everything right. You know, they won four championships. So me coming there is like, yo, it's something special about this group. And I want to get to know what makes them so special. Buddy, you have experienced a lot in terms of the contracts and the business of the NBA. It's changed a lot over the years. What is the biggest difference between when you entered the NBA and how it stands today based on, I'd say, a couple of collective bargaining agreements that have been agreed to?

16:27You just can learn how to adapt and enjoy the contracts and just be smart and how to like handle yourself, take care of your money and just set your money up for the future. As you come to the league, they preach it like you have to try to get to 10 years because 10 years is like fully insured and everything. But it's also just managing your money too, because you have family, you have the things you want to do and you have a lot of business adventures you want to do and you're trying to find the right business deal to be in so you can like set yourself for life because you know that us making these checks will not last for long so just taking courses learning from the vets knowing what is good to go in what is not going to and sometimes learning from experience too you might go in something like that you want to try and it might not work out but you learn from experience the next time that you go in something that you're more educated and uh you're more ready for the challenge buddy i'd like to ask you a little bit about what you're doing off the court here, specifically the work you've done with basketball clinics in places like NASA.

17:26I know you're Bohemian, you know, Wichita, Kansas. I know you went there during high school, I believe, in California. You know, talk to us a little bit about that. You know, the foundation, you know, Hurricane Dorian, you know, in 2019, you know, it hit the Bahamas, all that you did for that community. Talk to us a little bit about all of that. I'm a guy, I'm big on my country, you know, and I feel that, you know, everybody's invested in everything else, but I think I'm invested in my country, you know. This is the Bahamas because I think there's a lot of kids that are in need. Whether it's come in my pocket or not, I just hope they're just trying to invest in them and try to help the youth.

18:01And get back to when it was like a hurricane situation where it was like catastrophic hurricanes where it's damaged the island. And families don't have a chance to get back on their feet, you know, and just helping them with groceries and stuff like that. The little needs that I can take them for people with like medical bills, stuff like that. I just try to like bench off and help as much as I can. And especially the youth with basketball, I try to help go to basketball clinics. I bring like two AU groups over here every summer. They come to Dallas. I take them over around in America. They can play travel basketball.

18:34And just to get experience of a situation they didn't have before or what they're craving and what they want, you know, because I know when I was little, I really wanted to like do travel ball. I wanted to like, you know, everybody knows america is the goal to come to if you want to play basketball so uh i know how hard it was for me to get there so i'm just trying to make it just as easy for those kids uh to have a chance to pursue their dreams you know and uh and this year we had like eight kids that got scholarship this year so uh hopefully we can get to keep on building and uh hopefully i can uh expand more in bahamas my goal is to build gymnasiums and build career centers to uh help those kids and whether it's not true basketball, whether it's true education, whether it's being doctors, lawyers, trying to kickstart them to pursue their dreams.

19:24I love how you talked about that there and talked about how when you were little, you always wanted to be able to play travel ball and you wanted to do all these things and you're really trying to give back to the Bahamas now. I mean, right now in the NBA, we're seeing more international players than we ever have. And I feel like we're all hoping for a team world versus Team USA, all-star game. But in terms of how you grew up and in terms of growing up in the Bahamas and then coming to the U.S. for high school, how was your journey coming from outside the U.S. to becoming an NBA player? To me, it's something I always wanted to do.

19:56I was always a kid that always liked to venture off. I always wanted to do things my way and I always wanted to be different. I always was a kid that, you know, coming to the Bahamas, you have 400 ,000 people. You know, it's impossible for you to go to America and play basketball and make it an NBA because it's not really the norm. You had your Michael Thompson who did it, Rick Fox. But if you look at the statistics, it's not really normal. I had a lot of people that say I'm crazy, but my crazy was I'm proving myself right that it can't be done. It was fun. I loved the journey. I loved the grind.

20:26I loved the bad days I had. It was more bad than good days, but I know that when you figure it out, it's always the end of the tunnel. So I was happy. You know, my mom, I grew up in a household with seven kids, and my mom was very spiritual, and I told her this was what I wanted to do, and she supported, and she's always been supportive of my whole life, and she was never forceful, and to me, I couldn't do things, and my family always had my back, you know, and I just wanted to come to America, and I pursued my dreams, and I know when I did that, I can open up floodgates for more kids and make them believe that it can be done.

21:02Buddy, with you having the AAU teams and doing the work that you're doing in the youth sports space, you would have happened, you definitely would have seen the way that basketball culture has changed since NIL. What is that like comparing to what it was like when you were in school to what kids are looking at right now? That's a good question, man, because I was just telling my kids that this summer that the NIL has tremendously changed the whole game, you know, and I tell them they're paying kids now, but really like they're paying older kids now because now it's become more of a business, you know, and I tell them from my AU program, like for my Bohemian kids, I was like, yo, it's actually much more harder to get into college basketball.

21:41It's not, it's not easy as it used to be because now like coaches, universities, they wanted to play to all the kids because they, because everybody's about winning and we don't win. Like coaches, you lose their job. Like they're trying to find the best product to be able to, the best product that is much more ready. And they want all the kids, they're not really coming from the high school, unless you're like a five-star group, four-star recruit and they're going to try to help develop you. So it's more harder for international kids to get in. So you've got to be one of ones. You've got to be special.

22:08You've got to bring something to the table that they need because there's a lot of kids in America that can do the same thing you're doing. So I'm preaching it every day. So you have to bring something. You've got to be coachable. You've got to be reliable. You've got to bring some type of energy that is unreplaceable and that a coach is like, yo, I need that kid. So it's lighting the spark under these kids in the Bahamas, and I think it can be done. But NL has changed the whole game. But this is where we live in, and it's exciting times. If you can get paid for being a college student, I'm all for it.

22:40How do you advise some of these athletes who can get paid NIL money but may not be able to go to the NBA? You know this, but there are 60 players that are essentially selected in every NBA draft and even less international players. But there's a lot of players who stand to make a lot of money in NIL. What do you tell them when it's like, look, I can make, let's say, $75 ,000 a semester and I may not be able to go to the NBA, what is your, how do you advise them? Take the money. Take the money. Take the money and build yourself. Take the money and save the money and build your business. Try to take care of your family as much as you can because in reality, if you don't call this maximum six years, right?

23:22Let's say six years because there's no, like, it's a JUCO and if you go to JUCO, it's like, you have two years and you still have four years. And if you can make about the rough free kick and make about 400 to 500, the better ones makes like a million plus. But if you can make in that range and take it yourself, if you look at the business side of it, if you go to Europe, right, you're not likely to get a$75 ,000 contract on that unless you're good. You know, and there's guys that are still making money. So, like, take advantage of the NIL. Try to support you and your family and build off that.

23:54Build equity off that. and just don't be a crazy college kid and just be spending it all about and doing all kinds of crazy things in the cars and stuff because it's not worth it, you know? So just invest it in the right way and just build it because if you're spending four years in college, most likely you're not going to make it an NBA. I just want to talk to you about some of the athletes who have come out of the Bahamas, starting with Michael Thompson. He was the first NBA pick overall back in the 80s. You know, he played for the Showtime Lakers. He's a bohemian. And, you know, right down to Isaiah Mobley, Eric Gordon, and now DeAndre Ayton and Vijay Edgecombe, these new young up-and-comers, right?

24:31I mean, are you in contact with them? Are you in contact with bohemian athletes of old? Like, just do you guys all stay in touch? I mean, what's the connection there? Yeah, we have a whole group chat with the national team. So we're always tapping in. We always, so we're telling everybody, happy birthday. Vijay's always calling me. I'm calling him, checking on him. He actually called me, like, a couple days ago when he's in Philly. just because I was in Philly and I was connecting with all the coaches and I'd tell them, make sure you take care of my little bro. And I talk to DA all the time, and I'm happy with his new gig with the Lakers.

25:05I'm excited for him. We're all family. We're brothers because we all want to see each other do good and we always represent the Bahamas and try to keep the Bahamas on the map. That was Buddy Heald, shooting guard for the Golden State Warriors, with my colleagues Damian Sassauer, Vanessa Pernomo, and Bloomberg U.S. sports business reporter Randall Williams. Up next, we hear from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, live from the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Forum in New York City. That's straight ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. I'm Michael Barr. You are listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.

25:53This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr. Recently, friend of the show, Bloomberg Originals Chief Correspondent Jason Kelly, sat down with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Forum, alongside the United Nations General Assembly in New York to discuss how sports can be an economic and business catalyst. Let's take a listen. This is a room of people who invest and lead, and I would love for you to help them understand how sports can be an economic and business catalyst.