LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul shows he’s got game too in pickup basketball. (Source: Imagn)
LeBron James’ agent, Rich Paul, is considered one of the most influential figures in American sports. The CEO of Klutch Sports has negotiated, by his admission, over $4.5 billion in contracts, particularly those of NBA players.
Paul proved that he isn’t just a player representative extraordinaire but also a good shooter when asked to hoop.
Paul met with Gillie Da King and Wallo for an interview on “Million Dollaz Worth of Game.” After the talk, they decided to test each other’s basketball shooting s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s. One of James’ closest friends went on Instagram to share a short clip of the session and wrote:
“Klutch Sweatsuit 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 I’m a max player”
“I had a fun and great talk with @gilliedaking and @wallo267 about my experiences and my perspective, on the past challenges, the forward focus of the business, our position within, yesterday and today – on @mworthofgame”
Rich Paul calmly drained a whooping 8-of-10 shots from behind the arc. The final shot hit nothing but the net before Paul walked off to allow the competition to take their turn. A handful of the people who gathered to see the contest kept shaking their heads as LeBron James’ agent made one 3-pointer after another.
Rich Paul claims he had to build trust with LeBron James before he started representing the NBA superstar
Rich Paul’s association with LeBron James is well-documented. The two first met in 2002 when the former sold throwback jerseys while the latter was a high school basketball sensation. Paul eventually worked for Leon Rose at Creative Artists Agency, James’ representative.
In 2012, Paul left the company to form Klutch Sports with James as his biggest and most popular client. In the podcast with “Gillie Da King,” he had this to say about that journey with the LA Lakers franchise player:
“Trust is built over time. Today, we got a whole tanker of trusts. When it first went down, it was a teaspoon of trust and I had to build on that every step of the way.
“You can’t skip steps. I didn’t start representing him [James] until my ninth year. He entered the league in ‘03, I didn’t start representing him until 2012.”
LeBron James’ partnership with Rich Paul helped Klutch Sports get A-lister clients. Among the NBA players represented by Paul are Anthony Davis, De’Aaron Fox, Draymond Green, Darius Garland and James’ son Bronny James.
Paul is even expanding to European football but the underlying principle of his company remains the same – building trust.
