Intern to NBA Champion: The Journey of Will Syring
Each year, the NBA playoffs serve as a platform to highlight the unique journeys of some of the world’s top athletes and coaches. This year, we witnessed Tyrese Haliburton enter superstardom, backup point guard TJ McConnell become a cult hero, and Pascal Siakam’s return to stardom, highlighting his journey from the Cameroon to the USA. For the Thunder, a pair of Canadians - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort - not only helped put Canada basketball on the map, but brought Oklahoma City its first NBA Championship. Along for the ride with the Thunder in a key executive position, albeit out of the spotlight, was another unique story - Will Syring; the former Kilsyth Basketball intern.
Syring joined the Thunder in 2019, where he has served as the team’s Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for the past six years. During his time at OKC, Syring has played a key role in growing the Thunder brand both domestically and internationally; a position he has previously shared with the Chicago Bulls, too. That journey to the NBA front office started for Syring on Liverpool road, where he served in the Kilsyth Basketball front office as an intern in 2010.
At Kilsyth, Syring had his first taste of partnerships and sales, whilst also serving as a court announcer at Cobra games on weekends. Syring’s first secured sponsorship was a small investment from a local business - Michelle’s Sewing Basket - one he still holds close to his heart as it signified the beginning of a remarkable career today in sports marketing and partnerships. Following his internship at Kilsyth, Syring secured a position at Learfield Sports, a collegiate sports marketing company. Syring enjoyed great success working closely with the University of Tulsa and Oregon State University, with his rapid rise seeing him earn a position with one of sports most recognisable brands; the Chicago Bulls.
Syring joined the Bulls in 2014, spending five seasons with the famed NBA franchise as he guided a sales strategy in key markets to develop and secure innovative global partnerships in China, Poland, Germany, Mexico, Finland, and the Philippines. Syring and his team were consistently recognised by the NBA for account development, retention and new business growth during his time with the Bulls, with the energetic Wisconsin native often working closely with former Bulls legends, such as Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, and Toni Kukoc, to connect the Bulls to new and existing partnerships.
After five years in Chicago, Syring accepted the VP of Corporate Partnerships position with the Thunder, relocating to Oklahoma City with his wife, Leslie - an Oklahoma native - and their son, Wilder and their daughter, Layker. As per the official OKC Thunder website, Syring “leads the organization's business strategy to optimize sponsorship sales, brand activations and media rights. He and the Thunder's corporate partnerships team leverage the Thunder and NBA's global platform to elevate and optimize brand awareness for new and existing corporate partners. He also guides efforts to establish unique marketing and business opportunities for the Thunder, the Oklahoma City Blue, Thunder Fellows, the Thunder Launchpad and the recently launched Loud City Partnerships sales consultant business.”
It’s been an incredible ride for Syring at OKC, as he has helped grow the brand off the court, while the Thunder simultaneously grew and flourished into one of the NBA’s best teams on court. With GM Sam Presti driving an aggressive team rebuild, the Thunder developed a treasure chest of lottery picks into stars and key contributors, culminating in an NBA championship earlier this week. Syring has been there from day-one of the rebuild, which saw the Thunder rank as a bottom four team from 2020-2022, before rapidly growing over the past three seasons to eventually Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.
As all successful sports organisations will attest, it takes strong, talented, stable and passionate team - both on and off the court - to win. The Thunder playing group and coaching staff can lay claim to that, as can Syring; who now sits at the pinnacle of the sport in his position. And it all started on Liverpool road, in Kilsyth.
