Vlade Divac has raised serious concerns about the growing influence of agents in the NBA, calling for structural reform to restore balance between teams, players, and representation. Speaking on Byron Scott’s Fast Break podcast, the former Sacramento Kings General Manager argued that agents now hold too much control over transactions, often disrupting deals and shaping narratives behind the scenes.
“They have to find some model rules where they take that power away from them. You have a contract, you got to stay there. You can’t in advance tell what you’re going to do. This is basketball. We have to preserve the NBA for generations ahead, just like people from the ’60s and ’70s built this league for us. So it’s not just right now. You have to think about the future.”
“Well, I think, I would say, not just the players. We talk about the players, but I think agents, they have too much power. For example, I’m not going to name it, but I wanted to trade one player. To be honest, I wanted to tell that player what I was going to do. I didn’t want him to be surprised. So you communicate in those situations.”
“You talk with players every day about basketball and business. You go through the agent, right? So I call the agent and tell him what I’m going to do. He asks me where I’m going to trade him, and I tell him. So he calls the other team’s GM and threatens, like, if you make that deal, I’m not going to re-sign. So he kills my deal. Then I had to go back to that GM and take a little bit less of the deal to make it happen.”
“But the condition was, don’t tell anybody. Then the agent goes to the media and trashes me, saying I’m not honest, that I didn’t tell them. Come on, I did.”
“Look at what’s happening now, not just in the NBA, all over the world. Players during their career have four or five different agents. They keep changing. When I started playing basketball, I had one agent. When I retired, it was the same agent. Even today, we are friends. Players have to realize agents work for them, not the other way around. But they don’t realize that.”
Beyond individual cases, Divac framed the issue as part of a broader shift in the league. He emphasized that players frequently change agents throughout their careers, which creates instability and weakens long-term relationships.
In contrast, Divac noted that he worked with the same agent from the start of his playing career through retirement, maintaining a consistent partnership built on trust. He believes that modern players often lose sight of the fact that agents are meant to serve them, not control their decisions.
Divac’s proposed solution centers on stronger rules tied to contracts. He argued that once a player signs a deal, there should be clearer limitations on external influence, particularly regarding future intentions or trade leverage. In his view, allowing agents to signal that a player will not re-sign with a new team distorts the market and reduces competitive fairness.
He stressed that the league must think beyond the present moment and consider long-term sustainability, just as earlier generations built the NBA into its current global platform.
His comments arrive during an era where player movement and agent influence have become central storylines across the league. High-profile trades, public trade requests, and contract negotiations are often shaped as much by representation as by team strategy. Divac’s perspective reflects a more traditional approach, one that prioritizes organizational stability and long-term planning over short-term leverage.
The podcast also touched on other aspects of Divac’s career and views, including his admission that he used flopping as a tactic to handle Shaquille O’Neal, as well as reflections on major decisions and player evaluations.
He reiterated that he would trade an entire team for Kobe Bryant, acknowledged his mistake in passing on Luka Doncic, and praised Arvydas Sabonis as an all-time level talent. He also maintained bold views on historical comparisons, stating that Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson would dominate even more in today’s game, while controversially leaving LeBron James outside his top 10.
Taken together, Divac’s comments present a clear stance. He believes the league has reached a point where agent influence needs boundaries, not just for competitive balance, but for the long-term health of the NBA.
