Much has been made of the success garnered by Rich Paul, the man who rose to prominence alongside LeBron James as an NBA sports agent. But with the latest news of Nerlens Noel's lawsuit against him, the very fabric of how power agents like him seem to operate has been coming to light like never before.
In an excellent exposé from Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer, it was made known that agents across the league celebrated the fallout that impacted Rich Paul. The Nerlens Noel case against him revealed exactly how some of these bigger fish agents poach clients by making big promises. Noel in particular argues he lost $58 million in total because of the alleged misguided advice from Klutch Sports head honcho.
That accept-the-qualifying-offer, bet-on-yourself tactic—in addition to client-poaching from other agents—has drawn ire from Paul's rivals in the agency world. To be fair, they are often guilty of the same activities; a significant portion of income for larger agencies is generated by poaching clients before a player's next lucrative deal.
While the legal aspect of this all gets murky, the optics behind such tactics definitely feels a little filthy when you're purposely relying on directly taking business away from someone else in your industry.
Via Bleacher Report:
“It is wild to see all of it aired out like this,” noted a veteran agent. “It happens all the time, but it never becomes public. It happens around the draft even. Guys will say anything to convince these players to come.”
As mentioned, Rich Paul is the most noteworthy name, but he's far from the only party guilty of doing so. Nearly the same set of circumstances had befallen former All-Star Victor Oladipo last season, but without the legal action.
..Victor Oladipo was influenced to leave longtime representative Aaron Turner of Versus Management for Excel Sports just before free agency this summer. Excel gave Oladipo the same sales pitch: a new agent can deliver more money than the previous one. In this case, like Noel's, they didn't deliver.
Of course, these are very specific cases that highlight the worst case scenario after a change in representation. The exact opposite can happen as well where the player benefits from the guidance of another agent or agency. But with all this drama implicating Rich Paul, a spotlight is being shone over the backroom dealings, at least for the time being. Whatever happens afterwards is anyone's guess.
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