In a typical year, every rookie entering the NBA would congregate in New Jersey for four days to participate in the Rookie Transition Program, a mandatory program made up of a series of presentations developed by the league and the National Basketball Players Association.
The NBA and NBPA launched the program in 1986 in an effort to ensure rookies have the necessary skills and information for a smooth transition to the next level. The RTP is the longest-running and most extensive athlete support system in professional sports and one of its biggest objectives is to introduce the resources and support available to players in the NBA.
The program is held annually each summer before players begin preparations for the start of their rookie seasons. Of course, due to the ongoing circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, the schedule has been drastically changed this year and the event was postponed until the beginning of this month, just a few weeks after the NBA draft.
“Instead of a four-day program, we had an initial three-day session with the players virtually,” said Purvis Short, the NBPA Director of Player Programs. “We are creating kind of a rookie outreach curriculum, whereby the remaining topics that would normally be presented in RTP will be given to the rookies over the next few months.”
The RTP is one of the most comprehensive introductions to life management tools in professional sports, teaching players essential skillsets to help maximize their potential and positively impact their teams. The program features peer-to-peer panels with current and former players as well as other speakers to help them grow as athletes and individuals.
Players will often hear from a wide range of speakers each year, from current and former players to experts in other fields connected to the game. For instance, Hall of Famer Ray Allen spoke to the 80-plus rookies onhand last year on the responsibilities that come with playing in the NBA. Other players, like C.J. McCollum and Pat Connaughton, fielded questions on making sound financial decisions.
The NBA and NBPA try to bring a sense of community to the players during the RTP that helps promote a family atmosphere. With the information, this year, being presented virtually, conveying a sense of bonding and community to the players was perhaps the greatest challenge that the organizers faced hosting the event.
“I would say the virtual platform, from my view, we were really able to create that sense of community this year, I think with an emphasis on using peer mentorship as a powerful educational tool,” said Jamila Wideman, the vice president of NBA Player Development. “We brought in a number of current and former players to share their wisdom, the lessons that they learned, their advice on navigating life and making this transition.
I think as important as those sort of learnings was also simply the fact that it’s a way to welcome guys into the league through the voices and the perspective of their peers. I think we’ve learned over time that those voices are incredibly powerful, both in terms of creating community but also when it comes to actual educational sharing.
The goal this year was to bring in current and former players that would help make a meaningful impact on the class of rookies. Future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade headlined the group of players that spoke to the rookies on Dec. 3 while Karl-Anthony Towns, Pat Connaughton, Danilo Gallinari and Tobias Harris also joined in during the virtual presentation to offer additional perspectives.
To have such established players take time out of their schedules and offer some words resonated with the rookies. They see guys that have gone through the process before and experienced success and recognize that their words and experiences carry weight. The ability to also have several different viewpoints from the players helped create a valuable learning experience for the rookies.
“In some ways, I think the information this year may have resonated even more because I think everybody understands the severity of the environment that we’re in,” Short told Rookie Wire. “For all of us to be successful, we have to lean in a little bit more on each other. Karl-Anthony Towns had a great conversation with the players on his experience, the importance of relying on each other, personal responsibilities, etc. Dwyane Wade had somewhat of a similar conversation and then we did some player panels where our players really provided key information and the importance of everybody working together.”
The NBA has often led the charge on providing mental health awareness to its players and encouraging them to seek help if they need it. Teams are now required to have at least one mental health professional available to players and a licensed psychiatrist to assist when needed throughout the year.
Players often deal with a wide range of emotions in a given season but this year has been especially challenging due to the coronavirus pandemic, among several other reasons. The situation has affected everyone differently and the NBA wants to highlight these services available ahead of what will likely be a taxing season.
“We were really excited that these initial touchpoints with rookies also included an opportunity to not only address player health from the perspective of health and safety and protocols regarding COVID-19 but also to acknowledge that some of the challenges this year are going to be impactful for players’ mental health,” Wideman told Rookie Wire.
We were able to hear from the NBPA’s Dr. William Parham and NBA Mind Health’s Dr. Kensa Gunter who were able to speak to a variety of topics around mental health and wellness and encourage players on being proactive about taking care of themselves and coming up with strategies and tools to maintain their health. We were really happy that was part of the conversation, and certainly from the reaction of the guys’ was something that was really impactful for them.
The incoming group of rookies will face a unique set of challenges that no other class has experienced to this point. Players usually have the opportunity to play in Summer League and then spend an extended period of time in their new home markets to get acclimated before starting training camp and their rookie seasons.
However, with the NBA draft being held on Nov. 18, prospects were forced to move rather quickly to join their new teams. The process has been described by some rookies as chaotic since they needed to find new residences all while adjusting to playing in a completely new system. The players also experienced a long layover in between playing competitive basketball as most went nine-plus months without playing in 5-on-5 situations.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of anxiety, there’s high stress as it is with all of us trying to navigate this uncertain pandemic environment,” Short said. “This is new for everybody. These guys I’m gonna say, probably, for the first time in NBA history didn’t have the luxury of some type of training camp to spend time in the city around their teammates so they’re literally being thrown into the fire.”
The NBA and NBPA have been with the players through every step of the journey to this point. Prospects previously participated in the Draft Combine Education Program with NBA Player Development, which gave them an overview of resources, content and learning opportunities available to them throughout the draft combine.
The league not only prepares the players themselves but they also hold presentations for their families, as well. The parents of Chris Paul, and the mother of Jaylen Brown, were among the family members to help walk prospects and their families through what lies ahead in the future, from what role family members play in the transition to how they can be as supportive as possible.
The prospects this year also heard from McCollum and Matisse Thybulle and answered any questions they had. The rookie class responded so well to McCollum and Thybulle that they went over the allotted time because there were so many questions presented to them. The rookies were also given an overview of what the day of the draft would look like since the event took place virtually for the first time.
“Our number one goal is to demonstrate to the players on behalf of the NBA and the NBPA the level of investment that we have in their success,” Wideman said. “I think importantly, that the level of investment in their success means not only what happens next in terms of their basketball careers, but also as people and as human beings and as people that we believe have sort of limitless potential and talent and possibility.
Of course, hoping in this moment that the way that translates for them is into long and healthy and productive careers, but also knowing that, invariably, everyone in this class is going to have a different experience. Not everybody is going to be an All-Star, not everybody’s going to have a 10-year career, there may be guys who are out of the league in two years. I think part of what we try to pour into them is that the RTP is not the first time that they are hearing about orientation and the degree of that investment. I think repeated programming helps us with that.
After the initial three-day session wrapped up on Dec. 4, the programming of the RTP will continue over the course of the season. The NBA and NBPA recognize that the transition is an ongoing process for players to navigate through and they collectively want to guys the opportunity to have a smooth rookie year.
The player development department inside of the NBA exists for players throughout the year. From rookies to veteran players, the programming persists from on the court development to building off of the court. The revamped format this year will enable player development representatives the opportunity to reach out during the course of the season.
“We anticipate that the NBPA and we will have additional touchpoints because we recognize that the transition doesn’t happen in a day, it doesn’t happen in two days,” Wideman said. “It’s a process that these guys are going to go through over the course of this first season. We’ll certainly be walking along with them and the initial three-day sessions were really the beginning of the conversation that we hope we can keep relevant and impactful throughout the course of their rookie year experience.”
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