In the middle of the night, Danielle Cantor-Jeweler, former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Falk Associate Management Enterprises (FAME), woke up to a phone call from a National Basketball Association (NBA) player. He had lost his phone, and it was her job to get him a new one. As an NBA agent, this is just one way that Cantor-Jeweler works to ensure that her clients always have what they need, providing them with the necessary tools to succeed.
Cantor-Jeweler is a National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) certified agent and a JDS parent. The NBPA is the union that represents NBA players and allows agents to represent the athletes. Her job consists of negotiating contracts, brand endorsement deals and advising clients.
“I like to say that my job is 95% babysitting, and 5% negotiations and management,” Cantor-Jeweler said.
Growing up in the DC area, Cantor-Jeweler attended elementary school at JDS before switching to public school. Cantor-Jeweler loved sports, and she was a three-season athlete in high school. She was always specifically interested in the business side of team sports, though. Cantor-Jeweler’s mom, Amy Cantor, believes her daughter possesses the qualities of a great agent.
“She’s very persistent,” Cantor said. “She’s very smart. She’s very analytical. She sees both sides of any equation.”
Cantor-Jeweler strives to apply these traits to the sports marketing business, which she has been in for 25 years. She began her career in 2000 as a marketing representative at SFX Sports Group, a large sports marketing agency. She had the opportunity to do endorsement and brand partnership deals for NBA Hall of Fame legend Kobe Bryant, which resulted in an increased number of new clients.
In 2007, David Falk, best known for representing Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, invited Cantor-Jeweler to become a partner at his sports management agency, FAME. At this new level, Cantor-Jeweler could be selective and intentional with her clients.
“I’m an agent for NBA players, but it’s really a holistic representation and management of an athlete as a brand,” Cantor-Jeweler said.
An NBA agent’s job consists of negotiating clients’ on-court contracts in addition to their off-court businesses such as social media, endorsements, branding, investments and community service. Cantor-Jeweler also works with clients after their active career ends. For example, she began working with 11-time NBA All-Star Patrick Ewing after he left the NBA in 2002.
Throughout the NBA season, Cantor-Jeweler meets with clients, takes them to dinner, and attends their games, but her day-to-day job differs. The NBA trade deadline in February brings constant negotiations. All-Star Weekend comes next, which Cantor-Jeweler described as an “NBA agent’s Super Bowl.” In March, she attends the annual NCAA March Madness tournament, which precedes the NBA draft in June, as free agency negotiations begin in July. She feels grateful that her downtime coincides with the early fall and the Jewish holidays, so she can spend quality time with her family.
Strong client relationships are Cantor-Jeweler’s number one priority, she said that she is always completely honest, something she believes is rare in her field. Rather than telling her client she knows exactly what’s going to happen, Cantor-Jeweler and her clients walk through every step of the process together. She said a trusting relationship is built over time through honesty and transparency. According to Cantor-Jeweler, she provides her clients with the tools to unlock their full potential.
“The relationships I have with my clients really extend far beyond the basketball court and far beyond a business relationship,” Cantor-Jeweler said. “They really, truly become family.”
Cantor-Jeweler builds strong relationships with her clients because she is selective with whom she represents. Cantor-Jeweler only works with clients who will positively represent FAME and with whom she has shared values.
NBA champion and Cantor-Jeweler’s client, Otto Porter Jr. said that Cantor-Jeweler’s goal is to make his job easier. He felt as though Cantor-Jeweler was always in his corner supporting him, and he credits his success to her. In August of 2021, Cantor-Jeweler helped Porter Jr. sign with the Golden State Warriors, where he went on to win an NBA championship.
“She instilled confidence in me and in [Golden State Warriors head coach] Steve Kerr to trust me enough,” Porter Jr. said. “It led to one of the best years of my career.”
Specifically in the field of sports agency, Cantor-Jeweler works hard to be a role model for women. Cantor-Jeweler feels that her career was especially challenging because she had no female role models in the field, and she was one of the only female agents.
She said that for almost her entire career, she had to prove herself more than her male counterparts. She found her job more challenging because she was a woman; today, there are not many agents who have been in the field for as long as she has, and Cantor-Jeweler has established herself in the world of NBA athlete representation. She credits this to her relationships and networks.
“Even when things get tough, and when I can’t stand the way things are being done, I try to just focus on the individual relationships I have, and the human side of the business and how special those relationships are with my clients,” Cantor-Jewler said.” That’s what keeps me going.”
