Senior Vice President, Player Development
National Basketball Association
Mike Bantom joined the NBA in 1989 after a 16-year professional playing career in the NBA and Europe. He moved into his current position as Senior Vice President of Player Development in October 1999. Bantom is responsible for overseeing and administrating all of the NBA’s programs that are designed to orientate, educate and enhance its players, in an effort to help them realize their full potential on and off the court. Some of the league’s most acclaimed initiatives such as the Rookie Transition Program, the NBA Continuing Education Program and the Player Substance Abuse Program all fall under the Player Development umbrella that he is responsible for managing.

Bantom was hired by the NBA in 1989 as Licensing Manager for NBA International and held that position until 1992 when he became the NBA International Director of Marketing programs. His primary responsibilities in that job were to plan and implement programs designed to build the NBA brand and promote the sport of basketball globally.

Following the worldwide explosion of basketball that came after the 1992 Dream Team burst on the scene, Mike was the primary mover of a number of NBA marketing programs designed to take advantage of and increase the NBA’s growing popularity around the world.

Programs that he oversaw, such as: the NBA Coaches Clinics Tour to Europe, and Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America from 1992 –1994; the NBA Africa Tour in 1993; and the Converse/NBA 3-on-3 World Tour which ran from 1994 to 1997; were all key ingredients of the NBA’s global expansion strategy during those years. From 1994 to 1997 he performed these duties while living overseas where he relocated to help establish the NBA Europe headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

In 1997 he returned to the NBA New Jersey office to apply his talents and experience to the NBA Events and Attractions department. As Vice President he helped manage the department that is responsible for such important NBA events as the NBA All-Star Weekend, the All-Star Jam Session, the NBA Draft, the McDonald’s Championship, and all other major NBA events.

In his previous career as a player, Bantom won a silver medal as a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team that lost a controversial game to the Soviet Union in Munich. The following year, after he was graduated from St. Joseph’s University with a BS degree in Marketing, Phoenix made him the eighth overall pick in the 1973 NBA draft. After making the All-Rookie team, he went on to average 12.1 points and 6.4 rebounds a game in his nine-year NBA career. He played his final year in the NBA in front of hometown fans in his native Philadelphia where he helped the 76ers advance to the NBA Finals in 1982. He then went on to play seven more seasons with teams in the Italian professional league before retiring in 1989.

Mike is a devoted father to four children. Robbie, Misha, Brenda, and Alan.