Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is not only one of the greatest players to ever step foot on an NBA floor, but he has also already built an empire off the court with his hand in a number of different avenues. And he hasn’t done it alone as close friend and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul has been alongside him for much of that journey.
The two have known each other for a very long time, but they met by complete chance back when LeBron was in high school. Paul appeared on the “Rich Eisen Show” and spoke about how they met at an airport with LeBron being intrigued at the Warren Moon throwback jersey Paul was wearing:
“Early 2000s in the airport, Akron-Canton Airport. I was flying to Atlanta, he was flying to Atlanta. I was wearing a Warren Moon jersey which is one of my favorite quarterbacks and I actually liked the color of the jersey and he noticed it and questioned about it and that was the start of our existence of knowing each other.”
At the time, Paul was working at a store that sold throwback jerseys and he would go on to explain that the Moon jersey he was sporting that day was the same one LeBron had seen in a music video right before he left to go to the airport. And even though the two struck up a conversation, even Paul himself didn’t think the relationship would grow into what it became:
“Got on the flight, landed in Atlanta, get to the baggage claim. Here he comes again, a couple gentlemen was with him and I said, ‘Here’s my business card. When you get to the store, go here. If I’m there, great, if I’m not there just say my name, they’ll give you my discount.’ And I didn’t think nothing of it. That was what I thought would be the end of it, and obviously it wasn’t.”
Obviously it wasn’t the end, but things also didn’t come quickly. Paul noted that things progressed slowly with James not really having a role for him in his inner circle, but he just kept grinding and focusing on the opportunity he had in front of him and not the money:
“He actually came back to Akron and asked me could I come there to Akron because he had some guys that wanted some jerseys, so I drove down. That turned into ‘Hey, I have an AAU tournament are you able to go?’ That turned into ‘Hey can you stay here in Chicago while I rehab.’ That turned into ‘I need your social security number.’ That turned into ‘Man, I don’t have a job for you, I don’t have a role for you, but I just want you around, we’ll figure it out. Ever since we met you’ve been honest, I trust you, so on and so forth, but I don’t have a role for you.’ But I wasn’t one of those type of guys that, I didn’t need a role. I can create one. I had that confidence going in and that’s exactly what I did. I did not have a role for a while, and I was not making a lot of money. The most money I ever got paid while working for him was $48,000 a year. But I didn’t focus on the finance of it all, it was the opportunity.”
The story itself is truly an inspirational one and one of hard work, perseverance and determination. Paul and James meeting was pure chance, but they took that and built it into one of the biggest empires an athlete has ever built and that must be commended.
Rich Paul responds to David Falk’s comments on Michael Jordan-LeBron James debate
In that same interview, Rich Paul also took some time to respond to recent comments made by longtime agent David Falk that Michael Jordan would have won 15 championships if he had “cherry-picked” his teams the way LeBron James did.
Paul took issue with this idea that LeBron has been in control of everything for his entire career and gave multiple examples of moves made during his Lakers tenure that James had no say in.
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