League One Volleyball Hires Ex-Nike Exec as First Commissioner
Chris Patrick attended law school at Western New England University with the intent to become a criminal attorney.
After a winding career that included years as an NBA agent representing overlooked players, Patrick, 41, is now the deputy commissioner for the Professional Pickleball Association Tour, working to continue to expand the pro ranks for one of the country’s fastest-growing sports.
When he was hired in 2022, Patrick, who negotiated more than $120 million in NBA contracts and assisted on more than $250 million, was the tour’s 17th employee. The company now has more than 250.
“I feel like I’ve been very lucky,” Patrick told Front Office Sports. “Like I’ve always worked hard and done the next right thing, put one foot in front of the other. Every job I’ve been at, I’ve given it my all, and then something comes and directs me the other way.”
Patrick was a two-sport athlete at Division III Keuka College in upstate New York, playing tennis and basketball, the foundation for both of his careers. While in college, he started coaching AAU basketball, which helped form his first connections. In law school, a former junior college basketball teammate needed help with a pro contract in Mexico, and Patrick decided to try it himself. That led to clients such as NBA journeyman Andre Brown, which led to more players with similar résumés.
One player wanted representation with more experience, so Patrick reached out to longtime agent Happy Walters, now a consultant for the Pacers, to co-represent them.
“He cold-called me for a job as a new basketball agent and showed up for our meeting with confidence and a vision that impressed me,” Walters said to FOS. “I hired him on the spot.”
Patrick worked with Walters at his agency, Relativity Sports, and developed a reputation.
“My niche was kind of like international players coming over from Europe to here, and the under-the-radar guys,” Patrick said. “Jimmy Butler, Robert Covington, I kind of made my living with those guys.”
Patrick’s next career change was an accident. He quickly got hooked on pickleball after watching people play one day at the gym. In 2019, while representing Eric Moreland, another NBA journeyman who played for the Raptors, Patrick traveled the country with his paddle looking for games in between playoff series while Kawhi Leonard carried the team to its first NBA title.
He turned pro as a player in late 2020, and fellow professionals were adding him on Facebook seeking contract advice. Riley Newman, one of the PPA’s top players, became one of his first success stories.
“He was only making around $2,000 a month,” Patrick said. “Within a year, we got him up to high-six figures in sponsorships. It kind of went from there.”
“He was the first agent to see the potential in professional pickleball,” Connor Pardoe, PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball’s CEO, told FOS.
Representing 14 of the league’s top 25 players, he’d become the sport’s first dealmaker.
“We’re seeing marketing deals getting done for pickleball players that a basketball player just couldn’t get,” Patrick said. “Pickleball deals are coming in six figures. Whereas basketball, if you’re not in that top 5% you’re not getting a lot of marketing opportunities. The flip side is there was not that much money in the league. At the time, the league contracts, or the prize money, or the appearance fees, you’re getting at most a couple thousand per tournament.”
In March 2022, the tour tried to hire Patrick in a tour operations role, but he had just relocated his family to Charlotte, which made a full-time commitment difficult. They settled on a deputy commissioner role, which allowed him to still represent NBA players.
In November 2022, conversations intensified over a merger between MLP and the PPA Tour. Patrick, in addition to his new role, was asked to come on as general counsel, which required him to stop representing pickleball and NBA clients. That included Hawks guard Garrison Mathews, whose four-year, $8.2 million contract just ended, marking Patrick’s final NBA deal.
“Chris has always been ahead of the curve,” Mathews wrote in a text to FOS. “It’s wild, but also no surprise to see him leading the charge in pickleball.”
Since then, Patrick has led player and agent negotiations for the league and has overseen contracts for sponsorships, venues, and expansion—both domestic and international—and played a role in the tour’s overall growth and business development.
Patrick’s basketball connections have paid off more than he expected. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, and Magic owner Ryan DeVos all have stakes in teams. Since Patrick stopped being an agent, NBA teams have reached out to his own representation about potential front-office jobs, all of which he’s declined, but their interest stems from his role in the sport’s growth. In 2024, when Patrick added general manager of MLP’s Las Vegas Night Owls, who are owned by Tom Brady, to his list of titles, the reaction surprised him.
“I probably had 22 [NBA] executives reach out to me, congratulate me,” Patrick said. “More than whatever called me for [an NBA] draft.”
Patrick said he never planned to stop being an agent, just like how he never planned to start being one, either. But he doesn’t miss the constant churn of the industry and the amount of work that was all for naught.
“It’s like a 50% retention rate, right?” Patrick said. “I was negotiating a $65 million deal for six months and I got fired at the last minute. I don’t miss the stress of having to manage egos and expectations.”
Still, Patrick sees parallels between his old life and his new one, which is why he doesn’t foresee a major change anytime soon.
“Part of what I enjoyed as an agent was less about negotiating a contract,” Patrick said. “What I did for an individual athlete, looking for those opportunities, is what I’m doing for the tour, is very much what I’m passionate about. Even though the scenery has changed on what I do, what I enjoy has been very much similar.”
