David Kelly

David Kelly joined the Warriors during the 2011-12 NBA season as vice president and general counsel and is beginning his 10th season with the team. He was named general counsel and vice president, basketball management & strategy during 2016 and was then named chief legal officer, business and basketball in 2018.

In his current role, Kelly is responsible for all legal matters affecting the company (including transactions, disputes and compliance), manages player development, salary cap management and luxury tax planning for the team, oversees the organization’s human resources and public/ governmental affairs departments, assists with college player scouting, and oversees many of the company’s key projects and initiatives on both the business and basketball sides of the company, including legal matters related to the real property acquisition, entitlement, construction and operation of Chase Center and ancillary mixed-use development in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood.

Prior to joining the Warriors, Kelly was a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP where he advised clients in connection with public and private acquisitions, securities law compliance, and corporate governance matters. Kelly also provided legal counsel to a variety of sports teams and related clients with respect to television, radio and internet rights agreements, arena/stadium matters, intellectual property issues, and sponsorship and naming rights agreements.

Kelly has a passion for music and his work as a musician has been featured on the CBS Evening News and CNN, and in Time Magazine, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal. He has released 8 albums and has toured in the United States, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal and Brazil.

A native of Chicago, Kelly earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College in 1996 and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in 2004. He and his wife, Zeenat, have three children