Jachele Vélez is the deputy general counsel for the Women’s National Basketball Association, where she works to grow women’s basketball every day. She, along with the general counsel, is responsible for the W’s legal affairs, including Board of Governors and ownership matters, investigations, legal issues arising from the league’s various commercial relationships, player matters, and team and arena issues. As of this year, she was tasked with leading the League’s expansion effort, adding the W’s first international team in Toronto in May 2024 and working with the W’s Expansion Committee to bring in two additional teams by 2028. Bargaining and Governance for the NBA’s G League is also in her portfolio.
Prior to joining the NBA earlier this year, Vélez was a senior associate at Covington and Burling in DC, where she maintained a Sports and Antitrust practice, working primarily with sports, technology, and media clients. She is a Dean’s List graduate of Columbia University, completed her Master’s in Sports Industry Management at Georgetown, and graduated from Columbia Law School, where she was a named scholar all three years.
Vélez is a native of New Jersey, and after splitting her time between DC and the tri-state area for the past twelve years, she is happy to be living back in New York City. Outside of work, she is a classically trained pianist, a plant mom, and is currently attempting to dine at as many of the World’s Top 50 Restaurants as she can.