Kyrie Irving’s agent, Shetellia Riley Irving, made history as the first black woman agent to complete an NBA deal. Irving is going back to the Dallas Mavericks after agreeing to a three-year, $126 million contract on Friday.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania first reported Irving’s deal with the Mavericks. The 31-year-old guard will have a player option in the final year of the contract. Charania also noted how Irving’s deal was historic.
Shetellia Riley Irving is Kyrie’s stepmother and the second wife of his father Drederick. The couple were married in 2004 several years after Kyrie’s mother Elizabeth died due to illness when he was four years old.
The Dallas Mavericks guard has a close relationship with his stepmother. She became his agent last year amid all the things happening with Irving and the Brooklyn Nets. She was also the only active black woman agent in the NBA.
“I think the only or the biggest weight on my shoulders was the fact that there were so many other people watching to see how well I did this,” Riley Irving told Sports Illustrated last year. “Because if I do this, right, it opens the door for so many other Black women. And we get a chance to have more than a seat at the table.”
Shetellia Riley Irving used to work for BET
Before she became Kyrie Irving’s agent, Shetellia Riley Irving previously worked for Black Entertainment Television (BET) as vice president of ad sales for 13 years. Riley Irving told Sports Illustrated how her job at BET will help her as his stepson’s agent.
“BET really gave me a compass for understanding the art of negotiation and really being prideful,” Riley Irving said. “We also learned to be a voice for those who don’t have a voice. As the years passed, I began to better understand what it meant when colleagues would say, ‘We are the voice for the people that cannot speak on their behalf.'”
Riley Irving’s confidence is her main trait and it’s one of the reasons he was successful at BET. She planned to use it in her new position and it worked quite well. Kyrie got his wish last season after he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks. She then facilitated a new contract for him worth $126 million.
