Kenny Atkinson wanted a job. Mark Fleisher wanted a hot dog. Something had to give.



In the summer of 2004, Atkinson was fresh off his playing career in Europe when he flew to the NBA Summer League in Salt Lake City. At an event where the number of NBA personnel rival the city’s population, Atkinson made the trip to find one person: Fleisher.



At that point, NBA folks knew Fleisher as agent to Tony Parker, the Spurs guard who had just won his first NBA championship. But Fleisher had recently co-bought a team in France — Paris Basket Racing in the LNB Pro A, the country’s top division — and Atkinson wanted a job there.



After spending days looking for Fleisher, Atkinson finally found him; at a hot dog stand in the main lobby of the Delta Center, the home of the Utah Jazz. Atkinson was hoping to get him at a better time, but decided to give Fleisher his elevator pitch.



“Hey, I’m Kenny Atkinson,” he told him.