Joel Litvin

Joel Litvin served as the NBA’s President, League Operations from 2006 to 2015, when he stepped
down after 27 years with the league.

As President, League Operations, Litvin was in charge of numerous areas of the NBA’s business, including legal affairs, collective bargaining, basketball operations, security, social responsibility, and player development. He ran the league’s approval process for team transactions such as sales, relocations, and financings, and served as the chief liaison between the league and the NBA Board of Governors on a wide range of business, competition, and governance issues.

Working with the NBA Board of Governors, Litvin led the development of the league’s revenue-sharing plans, which enable small market teams to be competitive and profitable, and oversaw the creation of the first escrow/tax system in a professional sports labor agreement. On the basketball side, Litvin led a significant expansion of the league’s use of instant replay and developed the comprehensive, data-driven program the NBA uses to evaluate and train referees.

Prior to assuming his position as President of League Operations in 2006, Litvin served as the league’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel.

Currently, Joel serves as Senior Deal Partner with Andalusian Sports Advisors, a boutique sports M&A firm. He also runs his own consultancy, Calumet Consulting, which provides consulting and expert witness services to various sports properties. Litvin has been co-teaching (with Alan Ostfield) the Business of Professional Sports Leagues and Franchises in the Columbia Sports Management program since 2018.
Prior to that, he served as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Penn State Law School and as a Professor in the Master of Sports Law program at Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economia.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Sphere and Philadelphia Youth Basketball. He has also served on the boards of Madison Square Garden Networks, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Hunger Free America, USA Climbing, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Litvin is also the co-founder and director of the Animal Defense Partnership, an animal welfare nonprofit. 

Litvin lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and New York City, with his wife Lisa.