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BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- The day after Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young became the assistant general manager of the Oklahoma Sooners, a teammate approached him with some questions. Hawks guard Terance Mann had recently spoken to Luke Loucks, the new coach of Florida State, about doing the same thing for the Seminoles.
"He kind of wanted to know, before he just took the job and took a new role, he wanted to know what I was doing to see how involved he wanted to be," Young said.
During his four years at Florida State, Mann had grown close to Loucks, who played for the Seminoles himself from 2008 to 2012. When they hired Loucks as their coach in March, Mann told him to let him know if he needed help with anything. Loucks took him up on that offer, pitching him on the position over the phone.
There were only two people on the planet who could really tell Mann what he'd be getting into. One was Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, who became Davidson's assistant GM the day after Loucks was officially hired. The other just happened to share a locker room with him.
"[Young] kind of explained what his role was," Mann said, "and I was like, 'All right, I'll probably do it then.'"
Florida State announced that Mann was coming aboard on April 4, three days after that conversation. His responsibilities are to "help recruiting, help keeping alumni close and help with decision-making on the money aspect of things," Mann said. Back when he played for the Seminoles, he could never have imagined doing this while playing in the NBA.
"I'm in the coaches' group chat," he said. "It's crazy."
Young and Mann are focused primarily on getting the Hawks to the playoffs -- they will meet the Orlando Magic in a play-in game on Tuesday -- but both have gotten started with their respective side hustles.
"It's not just an offseason thing for me," Young said. "I'm going to be involved throughout the season, too."
Mann said that, due to his main gig, he hasn't been able to participate in any Zoom meetings yet. There have been phone calls, though, and "a lot of text messages, a lot of back and forth, just making sure everybody's on the same page," he said. He has been watching film on potential recruits, but this hasn't been too demanding. When he has free time, he looks at the clips he's been sent and shares his opinions.
"I'm just trying to see how they can help us win," Mann said. "Luke kind of wants to play a pro-style game, similar to the NBA, so I feel like I've got a good feel on guys who can fit those roles and just see what they can bring."
Mann has already gotten familiar with the transfer portal. "I'm on there every day," he said. "We're locked in." He hopes that the system becomes less "chaotic" in the coming years.
"It's very tough. You have kids that average six points a game, two rebounds, and they're asking $500,000, $600,000, and they're coming from a mid-major. That's the asking price, so you can't really say anything," Mann said. "But you're not that good."
The NIL frenzy is "getting a little too crazy," Mann said. "It's like the Wild West, there's no rules almost. So they gotta find a way to regulate it. But until then, that's what it is."
Mann said he hasn't done much recruiting yet. Young, on the other hand, has picked up at least one assist in his new capacity.
"I actually talked to a recruit last week," Young said. "We got him. So that's a big deal for me. Obviously I'm going to be involved as much as I can, and when Porter [Moser, OU's coach] needs me, I'm going to be right there."
Young declined to share whom he talked to. "I got certain rules I gotta follow," he said. The Sooners got commitments from Notre Dame transfer Tae Davis and Miami transfer Nijel Pack last week.
Aaliyah Chavez, the top recruit in the 2025 women's class, committed to Oklahoma on March 25. Before Young officially became assistant GM of the men's team, he described Chavez as "the next Paige Bueckers, the next Juju Watkins, the next Caitlin Clark of college basketball."
Chavez and Young are both from Lubbock, Texas. Young declined to say whether or not he played a role in her recruitment.
"I don't know if she's signed yet," Young said. "So she's a great player, I'm glad she's going to OU, I'm going to be supporting her, for sure."
Simultaneously to announcing Young's new position, the Sooners announced that he'd pledged to donate $1 million to the program. This raises a question: Is his role a "job" in the literal sense of the word? When asked if he is employed by OU and is getting paid for his assistant GM duties, Young said: "You're asking some deep questions. I'm definitely an employee of the university, for sure. Boomer Sooner, man." OU did not respond to emails seeking clarification.
Mann said he is not a paid employee of FSU. He is effectively a volunteer assistant GM, and he said he will be donating money for NIL purposes. Beyond the satisfaction of helping his alma mater, though, he is getting something out of this: experience.
The 28-year-old isn't planning to retire anytime soon, but, when he does, he's "definitely" going to "coach or be in a front office," he said. This is an opportunity to learn how things are done before making that transition. In this respect, simply being in the group chat is valuable.
"I get to see everything they say," Mann said.
Since Curry, Young and Mann are the first three active NBA players to take this kind of position, a lot of their peers in the league are "just confused by what it is," Mann said. He anticipates that some will follow their footsteps, but colleges with big-name, highly experienced coaches "probably don't need it."
Hawks forward Georges Niang, who has donated to Iowa State's NIL collective, said he'd be open to doing something similar: "If you want to see my GM skills, you know, Iowa State, sign me up." He and the university would have to work out the logistics of such an arrangement, though.
"I know it seems like they're just giving out those titles," Niang said. "But they're giving out those titles to people who have a lot of money."
When a reporter suggested that the Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton, a fellow former Cyclones star, would be more suited to it because of his supermax contract, Niang said, "I could be an assistant." With mock outrage, he added: "Why are you trying to f---ing shoot me down?"
Mann and Young will "be great" as assistant GMs, Niang said, because "they're great basketball minds. Terance graduated from the same high school as I did, so I know he has a great education, along with the one from Florida State. So I'm not worried about those guys at all. I mean, Trae's a college dropout, but I trust his basketball knowledge."
Mann called Young "the perfect guy for it" because he "loves his school" and, before any of this, was "always" talking about OU basketball. He is looking forward to forging a friendly rivalry.
"I'm sure after the season, when we're both locked in on our [other] job, we're gonna be in a bidding war and talking trash, stealing players for each other," Mann said.
