Rich Paul’s name has been mentioned in the media frequently over the course of the last few months. Paul is the agent of Ben Simmons, and he’s been trying to negotiate the star’s exit from the Philadelphia 76ers.
Paul was also previously a topic of discussion among NBA fans, as it was previously reported that New York Knicks center Nerlens Noel was suing Rich Paul, claiming that the agent was responsible for $58 million in lost earnings.
A recent article from The Athletic revealed that Rich Paul has filed a motion to dismiss Noel’s lawsuit, “arguing that their dispute should be arbitrated by the National Basketball Players’ Association” as well as alleging that Nerlens Noel “owes Paul earnings from negotiating a one-year, $5 million contract with the Knicks” ahead of last season.
NBA agent Rich Paul filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Knicks center Nerlens Noel in August, arguing that their dispute should be arbitrated by the National Basketball Players’ Association and that Noel has not paid him for negotiating a contract with New York before last season. Paul’s motion was filed on Oct. 18 in Texas Northern District Federal Court.
Noel’s lawsuit against Paul and Klutch Sports Group alleges they breached their duties to Noel and caused him to lose out on approximately $58 million in potential earnings. In the motion to dismiss, Paul and Klutch said that the terms of the standard player-agent contract with Noel require him to resolve any disputes via NBPA arbitration. Klutch should not be a party to the dispute at all because only individuals can represent players as agents, they argue.
In addition, Noel owes Paul earnings from negotiating a one-year, $5 million contract with the Knicks for the 2020-21 season, according to the motion to dismiss. Because the contract was negotiated prior to Paul and Noel ending their agent-player relationship in December 2020, Noel was required to pay Paul 4 percent of his earnings under their contract.
It’s unclear how far this legal battle will go, but it seems as though Rich Paul isn’t simply going to back down. Rich Paul has notably had a number of high profile clients that haven’t had any problems with the way he does things.
This situation looks like it could go on for a while, and perhaps we’ll hear more information about it in the future As of now though, we’ll have to wait to see if Nerlens Noel takes any actions in response to this.
