Russ Granik

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Russ Granik served as Deputy Commissioner of the NBA for 22 years. He retired from that position on July 1, 2006, after having spent 30 years with the NBA. He was best known to fans as the announcer of second-round picks in the NBA Draft and in later years, the television host of the NBA Draft Lottery.

Granik was the lead negotiator for the NBA for the past four collective bargaining negotiations with the NBA players' union. He also represented the league in negotiating numerous television deals, and in his role with USA Basketball helped lobby FIBA, the world sanctioning body for basketball, to permit professional basketball players to play in the Olympic Games. That eligibility rule change led directly to the formation of the Dream Team that represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.[1]

Granik graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1969 and from Harvard Law School.