Welcome to Pop and Packs, a segment where I open an old pack of basketball cards with a person from the NBA industry.

Today's guest is Nate Jones.

Nate grew up in Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s and was a huge Lakers fan,

but now as a professional,

he spends his time representing players

such as Damian Lillet and Jalen Brown.

Sit back and enjoy as we open a pack of 95-96 Fleers.

Here it comes connecting, connecting, connecting. There he is. Nate Jones. What up? How are you, man?

What's going on? How you doing? Good, good. Thanks for joining me today. Yeah, thanks for having me on. I like the shades.

Yeah, thank you, thank you, man. I'm trying to, you know, trying to be stylish out here in Atlanta. You know how it is.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Nate, um, uh, it's, I'm glad you joined me especially for this one because, correct me if I'm wrong,

but you grew up in Los Angeles and you were a Lakers fan as a kid.

Is that right?

Yeah, diehard Lakers fans, Shik Heron and Magic Johnson are what got me into the sport and the love of the sport and between his calls and

magic's electricity playing. That's what got me hyped on it and being a basketball junkie,

watching the game, playing the game, and now working in the business of the sport. It all was

derived from that seed. So are you still, I mean, you know, a diehard Lakers fan, would you call yourself?

I honestly, I had to give that up.

I'll give you a short story.

2000, I want to say this is 2008-2009 season.

When I first started this job, our largest client was Dwight Howard back when he was a big time superstar.

Yep.

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