Sports Illustrated and Empower Onyx are putting the spotlight on the diverse journeys of Black women across sports—from the veteran athletes, to up-and-coming stars, coaches, executives and more—in the series,Portia Archer was asked to fill the newly created position of chief operating officer of the NBA’s G League organization because she was in the right place at the right time.
“It's one of our superpowers, and it was brought on by the worst of circumstances,” Archer says, adding that as an organization the G League is now better equipped to deal with, manage and come out successful on the other end of massive disruption and change. The Chicago native doesn’t think it is completely unintentional that she has ended up here. She knows that there is a meeting point between opportunity and preparedness, and she’s taken time throughout her career and academic journey to enable herself to serve in this role.
The panel Archer ended up on at Columbia introduced her to Melissa Rosenthal Brenner, executive vice president of digital media for the NBA.What do you want to do next in your career?This conversation came at a perfect time when Archer was trying to figure out how to marry her career with her personal interest in sports. It led Brenner to mention that she thought Archer would be a great fit for a new opportunity at the NBA, which was none other than the newly created COO position.
“In some cases, we changed our lives by creating wealth and establishing this business,” Archer says. “But we also offered jobs and changed the profiles and opportunities of people in our community.”“All of these professional roles have prepared me to serve in this position where my purview is really broad, and it covers so many different areas and aspects of our league,” Archer says.come from the NBA’s G League.
Athletes, when their talent allows, can start their professional careers as teenagers. G League Ignite enables these elite young men who have a drive and an interest in a professional career to start early. They have a place where they can train, prepare and develop, learning from NBA veterans and coaches as well as current NBA players who cannot only teach them the game on the court, but can also help teach them what it means to be a professional off the court.
Cadillac The nbagleague has a unique opportunity to be a truly competive and stand alone minor league.