Document Type
Article
Date
8-25-2025
Keywords
nepotism, NBA, player performance, draft, family
Language
English
Disciplines
Data Science | Econometrics | Labor Economics | Sports Management | Sports Studies
Description/Abstract
This study aims to investigate the role, if any, that nepotism plays in the careers of players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Career performance is compared between the 780 players drafted from 2007-2019 with familial relationships considered. Ordinary Least Squares and logistic regression models are specified to estimate the effect of having a relative on the success of an NBA player’s career. We find that siblings of NBA players earn more and reach minimum games played thresholds more often, while sons of NBA players earn more, but generally do not reach games played thresholds more often than similarly-drafted peers.
Recommended Citation
Riccardi, N., & Paul, R. J. (2025). Family Ties: NBA Draft Position and Player Performance. American Behavioral Scientist, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642251366028
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Data Science Commons, Econometrics Commons, Labor Economics Commons, Sports Management Commons, Sports Studies Commons
