Posted by Elias Burgos.
Big time NBA agent, Rich Paul, represents some of the top NBA athletes which include Lebron James, Anthony Davis, John Wall, Ben Simmons, 2020 1st overall pick Anthony Edwards, and formerly Nerlens Noel. Paul originally enticed Noel to leave his former agent as Paul promised him that he would be able to obtain Noel more valuable playing contracts. Once Noel agreed to sign Paul as his agent this is where the trouble began.
Paul convinced Noel to decline a four-year, $70 million playing contract from the Dallas Mavericks and take a one-year contract from the Mavericks paying $4.2 million instead. Although this deal was significantly less, the mindset behind this play was that Noel’s value as a player would be a lot higher after this one year and he would not be locked in a long-term contract therefore he would be able to receive better offers the following season. This would have been a great plan if Noel did not injure his thumb during the 2017 season.
Once Noel was seen as injured because of his thumb, Paul and his agency, Klutch Sports, saw no value in Noel and stopped paying attention to him. Once Noel’s one-year contract was done in 2017, Paul did not give Noel any options on how to obtain another contract for the following season.
Eventually, Noel signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder for a two-year contract for $3.75 million. However, this was not Klutch Sports or Paul’s doing. Noel was recruited by the Thunder’s star players. Due to Paul’s continuous lack of interest, the following season Noel was forced to sign another small contract with the Thunder once again. This contract was another one-year deal for a less $1.9 million.
In four seasons, it was estimated Noel had earned about $12 million opposed to the $70 million he would have earned if he had originally signed with the Dallas Mavericks with his former agent. Naturally, Noel was very upset with his situation, but his frustrations grew when he gained the knowledge that Klutch lost interest in clients if they were not the best in the league. In 2020, Klutch Sports took legal actions against Noel because it was said that Noel owed Klutch Sports $200,000 from his 2020 season with the Knicks. Noel responded with his own lawsuit for the missed-out payday he could have received and the negligence he was showed during his time with Klutch Sports. Noel’s lawsuit against Klutch is valued at about $58 million, if not more.
Article Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/08/25/knicks-nerlens-noel-sues-nba-agent-rich-paul-alleging-indifference-cost-him-millions/
Elias is a sports managment major at Seton Hall University, Stillman School of Business, Class of 2024.