Russell T. "Russ" Granik (born July 10, 1948) is an American sports executive who served as Deputy Commissioner of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) for 22 years. During his professional career, Granik served as the announcer of second-round picks in the NBA draft and in later years, the television host of the NBA Draft Lottery.

NBA Deputy Commissioner

Granik was the lead negotiator for the NBA for the past four

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

negotiations with the NBA players' union. He also represented the league in negotiating numerous

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

deals, and in his role with USA Basketball helped lobby FIBA, the world sanctioning body for basketball, to permit professional basketball players to play in the Olympic Games. That eligibility rule change led directly to the formation of the Dream Team that represented the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He also served as President of USA Basketball and Chairperson of

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MhcPYoyPYo Russ Granik Inducted into the Hall of Fame He retired on July 1, 2006, after 30 years with the NBA.

Education

Granik graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1969 and from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

Honors

Granik was inducted into the

on September 8, 2013, alongside basketball legends including

Gary Payton Gary Dwayne Payton Sr. (born July 23, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who was a point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely considered one of the greatest point guards of all time, he is best know ...

, Bernard King, Rick Pitino, and Jerry Tarkanian. He was enshrined into the Hall of Fame by

Jerry Colangelo Jerry Colangelo (born November 20, 1939) is an American businessman and sports executive. He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the A ...

References

External links

NBA press release announcing Granik's departure
* Living people Dartmouth College alumni Harvard Law School alumni Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees NBA league office executives 1948 births {{US-basketball-bio-stub