A ring can come with a raise. After the Knicks' June championship, the roster collectively received more than $9 million, and marquee names typically reel in additional endorsements post-title. People familiar with the situation say some of those players bank with Goldman's wealth unit, turning on-court success into fresh inflows for a business that sits inside the firm's larger asset- and wealth-management division run by Marc Nachmann.
That group manages upward of $4 trillion. A Goldman spokesperson said the firm brings its full bench to clients and declined to discuss who those clients are. Kennedy declined to comment.
The Knicks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Part of the Goldman team working with some Knicks players features Matt Kennedy, a 6-foot-2 Villanova graduate who shared a locker room in college with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges. Kennedy first interned at Goldman, then worked in fixed income, covering instruments including collateralized loan obligations, before shifting to the wealth-management side about two years ago. A person with knowledge of the matter said his team also manages portfolios for additional categories of clients.
At Villanova, Kennedy earned the NCAA Elite 90 Award at the Final Four, an honor since retitled the Elite Scholar-Athlete award, given to the participant with the top grade point average among athletes in that event. His school bio says he picked Villanova "for its sense of community and the brotherhood of its men's basketball team." Their connection is close: Last year, Bridges served in the role of best man at Kennedy's wedding.
Kennedy told The Athletic in June he has held a pass for Knicks games for a few years. In that interview, he praised Bridges, saying, "He's never, ever, ever cutting corners," and called Brunson's approach "maniacal." Goldman has long tapped athlete networks: two-time Super Bowl champion Justin Tuck - once the captain of the NFL's New York Giants - joined the company's private wealth management group in 2018 and has emphasized the importance of long term relationships in his business. Big games double as meetups for the ultra-wealthy, with Tuck describing how he builds relationships with executives in suites at MetLife Stadium.
Athlete clients at Goldman often think in decades, not quarters, said a person with direct knowledge of the unit, and they tend to be more receptive to private and illiquid assets than some older investors. Because many retire young, they look to place capital into businesses or franchises that can spin off steady cash flow. For a bank whose wealth arm already spans public and private markets, that appetite can fit neatly with its menu and deal flow. For you, it is a reminder that when momentum hits - whether it is a career windfall or a market win - the question becomes where to channel it and who you trust to steward it.
