During an appearance on the “7PM In Brooklyn” podcast, NBA super-agent Rich Paul spoke candidly on various topics ranging from LeBron James and the Lakers to the current state of the NBA. Most importantly, he debunked a popular theory surrounding LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors.
Kid The Mero: “Last season, there as a report that the Warriors were interested in trading for LeBron…”
Rich Paul: “C’mon guys we gotta stop man! I’m not even paying attention to that first [part]. We’re not even going to have that conversation!”
Reports confirmed last season that the Warriors tried to trade for LeBron James before the negotiations died. James and his longtime rival, Stephen Curry, would have teamed up to form one of the greatest duos in NBA history. After signing an extension with the Lakers, and helping his son get drafted there this summer, James is unlikely to leave his current team until his eventual retirement.
Clearly, Rich Paul did not even want to entertain the conversation and he shut down the line of questioning almost right away. Fortunately, he was much more forthcoming about his relationship with the New York Knicks. According to Paul, the reports of a beef between him and the franchise have been highly overplayed.
Kid The Mero: “We got the peace god in the building, formally repped by Leon Rose who, Rich, you worked with in the past. There are rumors that Klutch and the Knicks don’t work with each other but y’all hashed things out earlier this year, what was that like?”
Rich Paul: “People have their alliances and that’s fine, it happens in our league. Media picks up on certain things and they know me well and they know how I’m going to handle my business. We had a conversation and it was clear and he was like ‘I can totally see where you are coming from.’ But the industry knows what’s up and it’s just part of it. It started with you [points at Carmelo], he started the whole thing.”
Rich Paul leads the NBA’s biggest agency, Klutch Sports Group. With a client base that includes many active players across various teams, he’s arguably the biggest figure in the industry and he holds a lot of power in the space. So when his beef with Leon Rose shut down communications between Klutch and the Knicks, it became a pretty big deal at the time.
Nobody knows how it started but Paul hints that the treatment of Carmelo Anthony is what set things off. Anthony, who played seven seasons with the Knicks, gave his heart and soul to the franchise before they unceremoniously traded him in the summer of 2017.
Ever since, Rich Paul and the Knicks did not cooperate on good terms and rumors of their disdain for the other side were well-known in NBA circles. It wasn’t until February of this year that they hashed out their issues and finally put an end to the petty rivalry.
Today, Rich Paul’s only priority is to provide his clients with the best possible options and he’s got his biggest client, LeBron James, with the best deal of all. On a Lakers team that he controls, LeBron and his guys can call all of the shots and ensure that they have the proper retirement plans in place.
Now that he’s on good terms with the Knicks, no team is off limits for Rich Paul and there is nowhere he won’t look to find the best situation for his athletes.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We appreciate your support.
