JOEL M. LITVIN, ESQ.

President, League and Basketball Operations
National Basketball Association
As the NBA’s President, League and Basketball Operations, Joel Litvin is responsible for the league’s basketball, legal, player development, and security operations, as well as NBA Cares, the league’s global outreach program. He is also the principal liaison between the Commissioner’s Office and the NBA Board of Governors on matters such as collective bargaining, revenue sharing, franchise sales and relocations, and the league's ownership policies.

Litvin played a central role in the collective bargaining agreements the NBA reached with the National Basketball Players Association in 1995, 1999 and 2005, including the formulation of the first-ever escrow/tax system and various refinements of the Salary Cap. He was also the principal architect of the NBA’s Revenue Assistance Plan, a subsidy program that provides assistance to low-revenue NBA teams.

Litvin oversaw relocation of the SuperSonics from Seattle to Oklahoma City, the Hornets from Charlotte to New Orleans and the Grizzlies from Vancouver to Memphis. He was the League’s point person in dealing with the Hornets and public officials in both Louisiana and Oklahoma to relocate the Hornets to Oklahoma City following Hurricane Katrina. Litvin also manages the approval process for all team ownership transfers and borrowings.

Recently, Litvin administered the restructuring of the league’s referee and basketball operations functions and established the NBA’s new Referee Operations Department under General Ronald Johnson.

Litvin, 49, was the league’s Executive Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs, from 2000 to 2006, serving as the League’s chief legal officer and working with the Commissioner’s Office and team owners on a broad range of league business and legal matters. He joined the NBA in 1988 as a staff attorney and held the titles of Assistant General Counsel, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, and Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

Litvin began his professional career at the New York law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he worked on several matters for Major League Baseball.

Litvin is a frequent lecturer on sports business and legal issues. A 1981 graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Litvin received his law degree from New York University, where he was a member of the Law Review.

He currently resides in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York with his wife Lisa, son Jesse, and daughter Jane.