- December 23, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
A basketball player named Aleem
Ford
was doing his laundry on a day off last week when he received a surprising text message around 11 a.m. informing him that he could soon be playing in the NBA. By noon he got the call to pack his bags. The Orlando Magic needed him for their game that night—and their upcoming road trip. His clothes were still in the dryer.
“Some of them were a little bit wet,” he said. “That’s how fast it happened.”
Ford and three of his teammates in the NBA’s developmental league piled into a van for the short drive from Lakeland, Fla., checked into their hotel and passed the biggest test of their lives. When their swabs confirmed they didn’t have Covid-19, they had 10-day contracts that made them NBA players.
As he signed the sheet of paper in front of him, Ford thought about the curious economics of his situation.
“I realized…
