Wild.
Drexler’s hiring comes after Mason’s exit led to a war of words between the league and its former commish. BIG3 claimed Mason was accepting bribes from foreign investors. Mason said the league’s work environment was “hostile and racist” and that co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz had led a smear campaign against him and also “repeatedly referred to black athletes as ‘rich n——.'”
From a brand-name perspective, Drexler is certainly a step up from Mason. While Mason enjoyed a productive 10-year NBA run, Drexler is an all-time great. The former Blazers star reached 10 All-Star games in a 15-year career, was named one of the league’s 50 greatest players ever and earned Hall-of-Fame induction in 2004. Drexler has mostly laid low since his retirement, aside from a brief stint as the University of Houston’s men’s basketball coach, but remains a household name.