The NBA offseason is a great time for players to relax and start doing fun things, which could help them make money out of basketball. Some follow careers in the music business, while others become entrepreneurs, but Josh Hart of the New Orleans Pelicans took the holidays as a golden opportunity, and began a podcast along his long time friend Matt Hillman, calling it the ‘LightHarted Podcast’.
The player from Villanova was traded by the Lakers to the Pelicans during the summer in exchange of Anthony Davis, and what better way of having a new start in a new city.
Hart and Hillman have had guests from all sports and businesses in their various episodes, including Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan, as well as the prestigious basketball photographer Cassy Athena. As expected, Josh Hart invited his teammates Jaxson Hayes and Lonzo Ball to participate in the theme, where they both talked about life in the NBA behind the scenes as well as personal experiences outside the sport.
“We wanted the podcast to be a reflection of who we are as people and what we are interested in. We are passionate about sports, entrepreneurship/business, investing, entertainment, gaming. These topics are what we find ourselves thinking about most often so we wanted to bring the most successful people in each of those spaces on. We didn't just want to be another athlete on athlete podcast.”, Hillman said.
Josh Hart and Matt Hillman have been talking to the world. LightHarted Podcast is one of the most listened to podcasts in America, Canada, Europe, and Australia according to chartable.com. The success of the show has been real enough to get the cash app VENMO to become their main sponsor.