Kathy Behrens announced she will leave the NBA office after 26 years, concluding a quarter‑century of service that made her one of the highest‑ranking women in league leadership. She began her basketball journey when her New York high school had no girls' championship, played college ball before the WNBA existed, and turned that passion into a lifelong career.
During her tenure she built the award‑winning NBA Cares program, which has logged 6.5 million hours of volunteer work and raised hundreds of millions of dollars for charitable causes. She also helped create the NBA Foundation and the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition, reinforcing the league’s community and social impact goals.
Commissioner Adam Silver praised her as having an extraordinary NBA career, noting her mentorship of players and advocacy for life after basketball. In an interview, Behrens said the decision was difficult but that it was time to pursue new challenges after her kids went to college.
Behrens started in education and politics, worked for United Way and Governor Mario Cuomo’s administration before joining New York Cares, which partnered with the NBA for the 1998 All‑Star Game. She later joined the league office, working closely with former commissioner David Stern and current commissioner Adam Silver.
Source: ESPN NBA · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing