NBA superagent David Falk, best known for representing Michael Jordan, is in his Washington memorabilia-filled office on a recent morning around 11. As an agent, consultant, mentor and venture capitalist, Falk wears many hats. On this morning, he was wrapping up a meeting with a high-ranking sports executive when he hopped on the phone.

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“Hello,” he began, and for the next two hours, he explained the biggest shifts in the game, the diminished role of the agent, staying power, his next act and much, much more. Since he graduated from Syracuse in 1972, he’s had maybe the best seat in the house, representing more than 100 NBA players. He’s widely considered the most influential player agent in the league’s history. In 2000, he had at least one client on all but two NBA teams.

Falk negotiated the then-highest contracts in NBA history for Patrick Ewing and Danny Ferry. He also negotiated professional sports’ first $100 million contract for Juwan Howard as part of an unprecedented free agency period, during which his company, FAME, changed the salary structure of the NBA, negotiating more than $400 million in contracts for its free-agent clients in a six-day period.

Falk knows only one speed: fast. Nearing 70 years old, he’s hardly dialed back, sticking to a rigorous travel schedule on his private jet, 90-minute workouts every morning, all while yielding one phone call after the next. The Athletic caught up with Falk at the start of the 2019-20 NBA season.

When you reflect on your career, what do you see?

I started at 23 and went on my own at 41. I was reasonably successful. I had great clients in MJ (Michael Jordan), Patrick Ewing, and many other Hall of Famers. I never made any money. I didn’t have $100,000 in the bank. But I was very happy and successful. I was a sports lawyer. Then I went on my own and got fortunate, made a lot of money.

In life, people look at different things that give them satisfaction: a great job, making a lot of money, having kids. I have two special daughters, Jocelyn, who went to Syracuse, and Daina, who is an entrepreneur in New York. For 45 years, I’ve known my wife, whom I met at Syracuse. I have a comfortable level of money to support my family and give back.

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What lies ahead for an industry that is unrecognizable from what it was when you started his journey?

It’s changed dramatically since I got in. When I was in law school looking for a job, it was a tiny business. Today it’s huge, expanding into sports betting, virtual reality, analytics. Now you have to do more than negotiate a deal. You have to be a marketer and a corporate consultant. I never took a marketing course but being a marketer is something I had to learn. It’s something I truly love: negotiating the business side of basketball.

Now it should take 30 seconds to do a rookie deal because they put a scale, a maximum in. It’s taken the imagination out of being an agent for 75 percent of what I do. Because of that standardization, if you will, it’s created a high level of corruption. It’s hard to differentiate. There’s money paid to induce players to sign someplace. There’s money paid to train players. It’s unfortunate. I’m not mad. I just don’t like it. I’ve had my run.

If given the chance, I wouldn’t pay Zion (Williamson) a penny. He’s a great player and, from what I can tell, a terrific young man. But $1 or $1 million, it’s the same. At FAME, we don’t recruit. We don’t support AAU programs, anything going on in today’s environment. The NBA Players’ Union has done a poor job policing the rules and illegal inducements. They haven’t lifted a finger to address it. It’s the Wild West. You’re almost better off having no rules. I have great respect for the woman (Michele Roberts) running it. But they’ve been almost negligent. I always shoot for the stars and play by the rules. So all this change has opened up a whole new career for me.

What’s that? How have you adjusted to and grappled with a shifting landscape?

Our business is very small. We have Danielle Cantor, my only partner in our sports agency and the only woman certified by the NBA Players Association to represent an active player. She’s done a phenomenal job representing Malcolm Brogdon, who’s making $85 million. We have only three to five more clients. We don’t expect to ever sign another rookie. No more veterans. If Anthony Davis called, I’d do it. Or someone special like Zion, maybe. But I’m not looking to sign anyone else. I’m looking to support the players I have. We have Otto Porter in Chicago.

I’m transitioning to more private venture capital, with about 15 companies from digital marketing to building the world’s best and fastest toaster. Unlike the agent business, they really challenge your brain to come up with solutions.

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Are you happy with the shift?

I am still a full-time agent. But because of the structure of the industry, agents dropping fees, I think it’s a challenge of what it was 20 years ago. It’s dramatically different in 75 percent of cases. Malcolm, a second-round pick, we got him to the Bucks. I got a commitment from the owner to draft him seven minutes before the draft. They called us that night (June 23, 2016) and said they weren’t going to take him. I called the owner and told them to take him right before they picked him.

Malcolm took my advice and stayed in school. He got a degree from Virginia in public policy. Then he became the NBA Rookie of the Year. Then he signed for $85 million.

The idea that I sign a player such as MJ or Patrick Ewing or John Stockton or Alonzo (Mourning), those days are over. The AAU system and way agents operate is so corrupt. It’s not possible. I’m not angry. I have a lot of energy left in me, and a lot of people are reaching out to me for my experience and expertise in other areas.

Anything else you don’t like about the NBA right now?

Everything you do will be critiqued. I ignore those people. They don’t have a clue what they are even analyzing. It doesn’t bother me.

One day, when I was in my 30s, John Thompson called me. He said I was good at what I do, but I had a serious problem, he said. I got nervous. He asked if I wanted people to like me. I said of course. That’s a mistake, he said, because you need to know people respect you. You want them to respect you. Wanting them to like you could interfere with respect. I thought that was amazing. You have to separate your personal feelings from business obligations.

Revisiting your point on Brogdon, it seems that going back to school is a theme of yours. Fair?

We could talk for five more hours and I could explain to you why I feel the way I do. If the NBA union understood marketing better, they would not allow players to come out early. I think of the NCAA tournaments with Magic and Bird, Isiah Thomas, Jordan and Ewing, the cardiac kids at N.C. State, Villanova’s perfect game, Duke teams. Those guys became household names because people saw them intensely in the NCAA Tournament for three weeks straight. Today’s guys come into the league, except guys like Zion, people have no idea who they are.

If I told you to see a great movie starring David Falk, you’d sit at home and read a book. But Denzel Washington? Will Smith? You’d go tomorrow. Basketball is a marquee business. The number of superstars in the league has dwindled to five or six. The players are super talented but not as well known. I’ve never had a player go back to school and make more money. But it’s like asking Warren Buffett to pick a stock based on an hour versus three weeks. You need a body of work.

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I was asked to represent a tennis player four years ago. He won every tournament as a junior but none when he turned pro. The right to turn pro doesn’t mean it’s a good system. A kid could go to pro basketball at age 5. But not the NBA until 21. The purpose of labor unions was to improve the workers, fix hours, protect job security. Everyone would make a lot more money if the people stayed in school longer or went pro earlier but not to the NBA. I don’t believe you should be allowed to play in the NBA until you’re 21.

So keeping guys in school longer or pushing back their arrival in the NBA would grow the game?

It’s too hard to come in before you’re 21 or 22. You need years to grow. I’m not saying everyone should go to school. Some don’t have to go for a day. But to be in the NBA, you should be 21, like in football. The careers of so many basketball players are shorter and will continue to shorten. When high school kids come in, they don’t last as long. The last thing the union wants to do is shorten their careers. Now players are partners with the league. Players aren’t employees, they’re partners. You should act like a partner.

As you’ve seen, mental health has become a big push in the NBA. What does it mean to you? Does it affect anything you do? Is it surprising? Do you talk about those things with clients?

No, I’m not surprised. That’s always existed. It’s been heightened in the last decade or so. They come in at such a young age, they’re not psychologically equipped to deal with that pressure. A one-and-done guy, everyone tells you that you’re the man. Markelle Fultz was the No. 1 pick. You’re not accustomed to dealing with the rigors of the NBA. What’s your support system?

It’s harder at 17 than 21. It’s another reason people shouldn’t go pro so early. The ups and downs are the most difficult transition. It’s not basketball. It’s psychological. Otto Porter was the No. 3 pick in 2013 and he played the fewest minutes of any No. 3 pick in the history of league his first few years. He wasn’t a happy camper. His dad is close to him. He’s close to his college coach. He had a support system.

It’s very difficult for the average player to handle that. It’s rampant. It’s exacerbated by the young age players are. People can hopefully address it in a more forward-thinking way. I’ve been telling players for 40 years: The biggest adjustment is the psychological roller-coaster. Not playing, losing, financial pressures. There’s a lot of different issues. Everything is public. I applaud players to come out and share their struggles. It takes a guy to do that and get help for others.

What do you make of college basketball’s future? Image, likeness, payments, etc.

Let me separate two issues. I don’t believe it makes sense for college athletes to be paid to play. There are 13 scholarship players on a basketball team, way more for football. At Syracuse, say, the value of that scholarship is $80,000 a year. But really it’s over $100,000 with meals, private transit, training. There are 13 players on the team, and there maybe two guys who maybe are pro level. Some may not make $20. The scholarship is value. The scholarship over four years is worth about $400,000.

There are only a few athletes, like Zion, are worth way more than that. So let’s say hypothetically, Duke and my good friend Coach K get $1 million to pay their players. Most or all of it would go to Zion. R.J. Barrett is a good player, but he’d probably get, what, $100,000? You’d give it to Zion. He’s way better than the others. For many players, likeness won’t be worth much. It wouldn’t be democracy. They don’t have equal value. A few with enormous value, a few with very little value. I don’t create that reality.

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That said, the NCAA makes a ton of money. I have no problem with a player making money. Want to be paid to play? You should go pro.

As a Syracuse guy (A 1972 grad, Falk’s name is on the Center of Sports Management and he has given considerably to the school) it’s surprising you never managed Carmelo Anthony.

I would have loved to represent Carmelo. But at the time, I wasn’t signing rookies. It’s incredible to me that not one team doesn’t think he can come in and help them. For all the tools he doesn’t have at his age, he is a prolific scorer and a really good guy. It’s a shame nobody has the imagination, even in January, to bring him in as a secret weapon to bring them over the top. He could change the balance of power for one team. It’s criminal he doesn’t have a job.

Willis Reed told me many years ago: When you talk shop in the NBA with GMs, they’ll say he can’t go left, no lateral quickness, whatever. There are no perfect players. Stars have glaring weaknesses. Every player has limitations. Willis said we don’t sign guys for what they can’t do, we sign for what they can. So Carmelo could come off the bench. He can create and put up points.

Let’s switch gears to you. You’ve been at it for a while. What’s the key to your staying power? Have you dialed back at all, as you approach 70?

I would say this: I’ve always tried to be someone who has always had a good sense of where things are going. I try to understand the road ahead as opposed to the road behind. I saw in 1995 that the scale was coming. I sold the business in 1998.

I’m not good at going at half speed. All in or no in. With Otto Porter, I’ll bring every ounce of intensity not just to his contracts, but day to day, when he’s going through tough times, not playing a lot. I try to eat dinner with him once per week. Coach him, deal with his family. Same with Malcolm. I try to work with Danielle. Ask them. There is zero chance I’ve slowed down.

I don’t expect to sign any more clients unless a vet really wanted to work with me. It’s hard to dial it back and put it away. That’s not my personality. I don’t want to retire. I love teaching. As an agent, you deal with 20-year-old young people. It gives you energy. It’s like Carmelo. He’s not 25. But he can help someone. I’m not who I was at 35 or 45. I’m in a different chapter of my life. I’m doing this because I want to.

What would you tell your younger self?

In my 20s, I thought you either win or lose. You deal with the same people on a repeat basis. I remember people who were unfair and people who were fair with me. There’s always another day. The Juwan Howard deal fueled me by how terrible he was dealt with during his rookie year. I never forgot it. That fueled me beyond 100 percent. His contract was a statement not of revenge, but this: Don’t treat people that way when you don’t have to.

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I have my own sense of what I’ve done, good and bad. I don’t know Rich Kleiman well, we’ve never even met. What he’s doing with Kevin Durant as a manager, that’s what the modern agent will be. It’s not about being a firm guy. Someone on his own who can take a star and be a business manager more than an agent.

I think even if I could have, I wouldn’t have signed Zion. You don’t need an agent now. You need a business manager.

(Top photo: Mark Goldman/Icon SMI/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)