At 10:02 a.m. on a sunny day last winter in the gym at the National Basketball Players Association’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, dozens of nervous prospective N.B.A. agents sat at folding tables, hunched over the first test many had taken in years.

Copies of the N.B.A.’s collective bargaining agreement and regulations governing agents cluttered the tables. The test was open book. Some of the test-takers said they had been studying for months.

Concerned about unprepared agents, the union started requiring the test in 2016. To pass, each prospective agent must correctly answer at least 42 of 50 questions. The certification process also includes a background check and dues of at least $2,500 each season, which is far more than most of the people taking this test will ever make from representing basketball players.

The N.B.A. is a booming business, and LeBron James is well on his way to cultivating a billion-dollar empire. But actually representing players for their basketball contracts, as opposed to the more lucrative (for agents) sponsorship agreements, doesn’t make much business sense.