• In addition to his position at Merrill Lynch, Jim is a member of the Brooklyn Nets' broadcast team.
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  • As an original member of the Dallas Mavericks Jim Spanarkel led the team in scoring.
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Jim Spanarkel When the NBA's original Dallas Maverick retired as a player, he never dreamed he would have two careers waiting for him.

     When Jim Spanarkel joined the Nets on their road trip to London this season, the team’s broadcaster for the last three decades reflected on how much the game of basketball has changed. “You could see the game growing, “ he says. “But now, it’s happening so quickly. If you asked me 15 years ago if we would ever have played a regular season game in Europe, I would have said no way. Now? I can envision teams in Europe five to ten years from now.”
     As a player, Spanarkel was part of the league’s growth. After graduating from Duke University, where he led his team to the Final Four, Spanarkel entered the NBA as a first-round pick for a Philadelphia Sixers team that would reach the NBA Finals in his rookie season.
     “When I was drafted by Philly, living in New Jersey at the time, it meant that I wasn’t far from home. Friends and family could come see me play whenever I wanted to. But that first year was a challenge, because all of a sudden you’re on a team with Julius Erving and Bobby Jones. Eight or nine out of the twelve guys were All-Stars. One day I’m asking Julius Erving for his autograph, and the next thing I know, he’s on the floor and I’m practicing with him.”
      After his rookie season campaign with the 76ers  in 1980, Spanarkel was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the expansion draft. He would lead that very first Dallas team in scoring. “I went from being a guy who sat on the bench in Philadelphia to getting playing time in Dallas. That first expansion year in Dallas was incredible. Our first game, we played at home against the San Antonio Spurs and George Gervin. We ended up winning the first game so we were 1-0 and everyone went crazy. Then we won 14 games the rest of the way, so we were 15-67.  There were plenty of nights that we were getting spanked pretty well. We had thirty guys come and go from the roster that season.”
      Though Spanarkel would play three more seasons with the Mavericks, he always had an eye towards the future. “When I was a rookie with the Sixers,” he says. “I got my securities license and real estate license during the season, so that I could work in the financial industry. I loved basketball, but you couldn’t be sure how long it would last.” After retiring as a player in 1984, Spanarkel sought work in the financial industry and quickly found a home with Merrill Lynch, where he has worked for the last 30 years. He is currently a Senior Vice President and Wealth Management Advisor, working with some of the firm’s high net worth clients. 
       Though Spanarkel changed careers, he still loved basketball and wanted to continue having it as part of his life. In 1985, he was reading his local paper, The Bergen Record, and found a story that mentioned the Nets had hired a play-by-play announcer but had yet to hire a radio analyst. Spanarkel called the team’s COO whom he had only met once before and landed the job, doing about 30-40 radio games that season. The Nets’ TV analyst, Bill Raftery, also had to miss about 25 games because of his job with ESPN, so then they asked Spanarkel to try television as well.  Three decades later, Spanarkel is still broadcasting Nets games. “To have a career in the financial industry, and to still have basketball as part of my life, it doesn’t get any better than that.”