Northwestern alumnus and international basketball agent Alex Saratsis represents some of the best players in the NBA, including this year’s NBA Finals MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Saratsis graduated from Northwestern in 2002 with a degree in political science, where he learned many of the skills that would later set him ahead in the sports world.
“My political science major taught me to understand different cultures, how to do business in different countries, and that decisions made in the past can shape what happens in the future,” Saratsis told Northwestern Magazine.
Saratsis interned with a local basketball agency throughout his time at Northwestern, and he later joined CSMG, a Chicago-based sports management and marketing firm.
“My first eight years in the business, I made more mistakes than I can count,” Saratsis said.
However, after growing up across Greece, Mexico, and Japan, Saratsis discovered that his multilingual background gave him an edge with international clientele — including Antetokounmpo.
Saratsis first watched Antetokounmpo play basketball in Greece, but the two officially met the day before the 2013 NBA Draft. With Saratsis’ help, Antetokounmpo was the 15th pick and landed in Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo lived out of a hotel for his first six months in the states, and Saratsis drove to visit him every three to four days to help him adapt and shop for things like groceries. The two became fast friends.
“We spend so much time together, Giannis and I are at the point now where it’s almost nonverbal. I can tell what he’s thinking without him even saying anything to me,” Saratsis said.
After the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Saratsis said he had to be “brutally honest” with his clients about their suspended season. He said that while he hoped for the best, it was his job to prepare his players for the very worst. Though it was a difficult year, his clients came out stronger than ever— the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Finals, and Antetokounmpo was the MVP.
Looking to the future of basketball, Saratsis said that the NBA is doing a great job growing its international fan base, recently adding streaming services in India and new development camps in Bangladesh.
“I’m continuing to see the growth of basketball globally — new sources of revenue, new ways that the game can touch the world. I’m excited to be a part of that,” Saratsis said.
Read more about Saratsis in Northwestern Magazine. Read more about Saratsis’ clients here.