Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and his agent Rich Paul are largely credited with influencing how player movement has evolved over the years in the NBA.
James left his former agency CAA to join Paul’s then-new venture Klutch Sports and the two set a new precedent for how much control stars have when it comes to their playing futures. By virtue of his stardom, LeBron has gotten any contract structure he’s asked for as well as earned the right for teams like the Lakers to do right by him and build out a championship-level roster.
However, James’ relentless pursuit of titles has led some to believe that he controls the moves the teams he plays for makes. The narrative has been around for a while, but Paul took the time to address them directly, via The Rich Eisen Show:
“And that’s false. I can say that because I’m there and when you think about that and that narrative people don’t think about the impact that that has off the court. It hurts friendships, guys that play on teams because they feel like, ‘Hey, I may have been traded and it’s because you wanted me out of here.’ And I know that it’s not to be true. Clearly he don’t run the team because there’s things that transpired that he didn’t even know about, so how is he running the team? The [Russell] Westbrook trade. He didn’t make that trade, contrary to what people try to put out there. He did not make that trade and I know that for a fact. So I think those things are…there’s one thing to have power and influence and there are guys who earned the right for some decisions to be ran past you or for some teams to say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’ We can’t confuse someone asking a player for an opinion and that being the decision that’s being made. Those are two separate things and I deal with all of them, players and offices. Those are two separate things. I don’t think players are in the position to make a specific decision all the time due to the fact that they’re not doing the diligence that the front offices are doing to even make that decision. Because it’s one thing to date somebody, it’s another thing to live with them.”
Paul’s rant is an indicator that the narrative of James controlling teams has gotten old and shouldn’t be taken seriously. As he noted, the Lakers have made moves that LeBron seemingly had no say in so it’s hard to believe he has sole decision-making power within the organization.
Rich Paul has no idea how long LeBron James will play
LeBron James has been open about his impending retirement and even people like his agent Rich Paul have no idea how long he’ll continue to play.
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