MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The new NBA season tips off tonight with two games. One of the storylines going into this new season is the return of NBC as an official broadcast partner. Among the members of the newly assembled NBA on NBC broadcast team is Hall of Famer Grant Hill. The former Duke star and NBA All-Star will work as an analyst. He's also the managing director of USA Basketball and an investor in several pro sports franchises. And this morning, he's here with us. Very busy man. Good morning. Thanks for joining us.
GRANT HILL: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: So this new season tips off. What are the big storylines that you're keeping an eye on?
HILL: Well, there's always excitement. And obviously, the OKC Thunder - you know, the team that won the championship last year - can they repeat and win again? You think about LeBron James, Stephen Curry - two champions, two faces of the NBA over the last decade-plus. Do they still have enough left in the tank for one more championship run? Of course, the Knicks are the odds-on favorites to possibly represent the Eastern Conference, although the Cleveland Cavaliers might think otherwise. So much to follow, so much excitement. And I'll tell you what - I can't wait.
MARTIN: So, you know, NBA TV ratings fell to their lowest level since the 2021 pandemic. Why do you think that is? Is it issues affecting the whole industry, like cord-cutting, or is there something else that you're worried about?
HILL: Well, I do think that the league has kind of gone through a bit of a transition. And in the late teen years, you had the Warriors versus the Cavs rivalry, which was perfect for television. And, you know, it was so much fun to watch LeBron, Stephen Curry every year in the NBA finals. It was a foregone conclusion. We've had different champions every year since 2018, which I think is good, and I think it brings parity. There's a lot of theories. I don't know exactly what that reason might be. But I do think this new media rights deal - I think NBC - I think it has a chance to rejuvenize in terms of how we present the games.
MARTIN: I mentioned you're very busy. Since your retirement from the NBA, you've invested in several sports franchises across different sports. You're a minority owner of the NBA Atlanta Hawks. You're also part of the ownership team that purchased the Orioles, and you have investments in men's and women's soccer. You are not the only former player to be an investor, but you're one of the first. I mean, certainly Michael Jordan was a team owner as well. We were used to former players becoming part of management, but I think you are part of that generation that started actually investing. Why do you think that is?
HILL: You know, going back, my father tried numerous times in the '80s and in the early '90s to assemble ownership groups to buy professional franchises. And so when I entered the NBA, going back to 1994, like, that's what I was thinking - like, wow, it'd be great to participate on an ownership level as a partner, as a governor. It didn't happen overnight. But I do think sort of planting that seed at a very young age, even before I was in the NBA, that it was a possibility really sort of helped, shaped my view and my goals. And fortunately, here we are - four teams. We're about to have the WNBA Detroit franchise in 2029. That'll be five, and my wife says no more after this.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: I mean, obviously, before turning pro, you had a successful college career at Duke. You stayed for four years. You won two national titles. Nowadays, top players are staying for one season. And then, of course, there are the payments directly from the schools through NIL for name, image and likeness. You know, on the one hand, a lot of people thought, well, you know, these NIL payments would help kids stay in school because they wouldn't feel the pressure to leave to make money and that they could actually do both. But that doesn't seem to be the way it's working out, and I'm just wondering what your take is on that.
HILL: Look, I don't mind there being payment. And I think you need uniformity, where the rules apply all across the board, and it doesn't favor sort of those schools that have more resources and can pay more players. And we're kind of moving into that now. But I'm not a big fan of the Transfer Portal, and I do think there should be penalties. You know, if you decide to leave a school, which you have a right to, maybe you can do that once. Or maybe you have to go back - after one transfer, you have to go back to the old model, where you have to sit out a year. But now there's no deterrent from just leaving. And so you combine the money with the Transfer Portal - I think that's a problem.
MARTIN: That is NBA All-Star Olympic gold medalist Grant Hill. He is part of the NBA on NBC broadcast team. The NBA pro season starts tonight. Grant Hill, thank you so much for joining us.
HILL: All right. Thanks, as always, for having me.
MARTIN: Thank you.
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