Kathy Behrens: NBA Departure

AP says Behrens will leave the NBA at year’s end after 26 years.

BD

Kathy Behrens will leave the NBA at the end of 2026 after 26 years in the league office, where she developed NBA Cares, per The Associated Press. She has been president of social responsibility and player programs since 2015.

NBA Cares launched in 2005. NBA personnel have logged more than 6.5 million hours through the program, which has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for community groups. Behrens also oversaw the NBA Foundation and the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition during the pandemic. She joined the league after leading New York Cares, which worked with the NBA around the 1998 All-Star Game in New York. She spent more than six years in Gov. Mario Cuomo’s administration before moving to nonprofit work and then the league.

That gives the NBA a change at the top of its social-responsibility and player-program work. Her successor has not been named. Behrens plans to depart on Dec. 31, 2026.