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Forty Under 40

Forty Under 40: Omar Wilkes

Fanatics

Heading basketball at Klutch Sports, the agency that counts LeBron James, Trae Young, Tyrese Maxey and Draymond Green among its clients, is intoxicating stuff for any agent. So, when a search firm initially reached out to Omar Wilkes about a job at Fanatics, he ignored it.

Some time later, Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan met with Wilkes, who left the meeting impressed, but not enough to make him abandon player representation. Over lunch at Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s Hollywood Hills mansion with the company’s executive elite — Rubin, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Tucker Kain, Chief of Staff Saj Cherian and Mahan — they successfully convinced Wikes that recruiting athletes for Fanatics’ expanding enterprise represented a step into sports’ future.

Now Wilkes is heading athlete marketing for Fanatics Collectibles, which has 3,000 athletes under contract and a burgeoning trading card business. He acknowledges that the move was a bit of a left turn, but, “Fanatics is a company with a lot of a lot of ambition,” he said. “Working across all sports looked intriguing.”

It all seems fitting for Wilkes, who grew up with his father, Jamaal
Wilkes, playing in the NBA. The younger Wilkes played college hoops at Kansas and Cal, then started his agent career in 2011 with Pinnacle Management. When he met with longtime Octagon basketball talent czar Jeff Austin in 2012, the agency had no openings. But within an hour, it was “when could Wilkes start?”

“He’s just a guy you want on your team: likable, confident and with huge credibility, because of his basketball background,” said Austin. “His authenticity and ability to connect are just as strong.’’

Wilkes joined Rich Paul’s Klutch in 2020, and signed impending first overall pick Anthony Edwards. He followed that up last year by bringing now NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama to Fanatics. — Terry Lefton

Omar Wilkes

Head of Athlete Partnerships, Fanatics Collectibles  

Age: 40 (turned 40 this spring)

Born: Santa Monica, Calif.

Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A., social welfare

Family: Spouse, Cynthia; children, twins Leo and Kamden (5), and Maya (2)

Advice to my 20-year-old self: Follow your instincts; honor your words; don’t ever compromise your integrity.

How I deal with stress in the workplace: My family balances me out.

Causes supported: Discovery School Parents Association (DSPA), a nonprofit run by volunteer parents, which establishes service-learning opportunities for preschool age students. Also, Movember (prostate cancer), Project Purple (pancreatic cancer), Arizona Tuition Connection (sponsoring children’s education) and City Harvest (food insecurity).

First social media platform I signed up for: AOL AIM.

Person in sports business I’d most like to meet: Steve Ballmer.

Sports business leaders should be more mindful of: Inclusivity.

Most pressing issue facing my generation is … : Sustainability.

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