NBA Cut Out Middleman From Lucrative Emirates Deal, Lawsuit Says

In March 2014, Kiki VanDeWeghe reached out to a friend of his, an Iranian-American healthcare and pharmaceutical executive named Paul Edalat. VanDeWeghe, an accomplished NBA player and executive, was the league’s senior vice president of basketball operations at the time. The reason he reached out, according to Edalat, was simple: The NBA’s partnership with Delta Air Lines was set to expire, and the league thought the Emirates airline—owned by the government of Dubai—would be an ideal replacement.

VanDeWeghe, knowing Edalat had connections in the region, hoped he could make some introductions. “The timing could not be better,” VanDeWeghe wrote Edalat in an email, court documents show. “We would like you to relay our interest to Timothy Clark, President of Emirates.

” According to Edalat, the NBA then formally engaged him to help secure a sponsorship deal. He now claims the sides agreed to a “simple commission-based compensation” that would pay Edalat and his company 10% of the deal “and any future partnership” between the NBA and Emirates. The NBA eventually opted to renew its existing partnership with Delta in 2015, putting its talks with Emirates on hold.

More than a decade later, VanDeWeghe’s outreach has become the basis of a lawsuit that offers a rare window into how one of the world’s most powerful sports leagues pursues global business deals. Brad Mills-Imagn Images In February 2024, the NBA announced it had reached a multiyear global marketing partnership with Emirates, naming the company its “Official Global Airline Partner” and the title sponsor of the NBA Cup. Soon after the announcement, Edalat alleges, VanDeWeghe—who had stepped down from his executive vice president role with the NBA in 2021 to become a special advisor—reached out.