LeBron James’ figure has transcended the court. Not only he is the best basketball player in the world right now but an influential figure inside and outside the NBA world. The King has clout that few athletes in the world have and he’s allegedly making bad use of it.
One unnamed NBA agent went on a lengthy rant about the Los Angeles Lakers superstar and the way he’s doing business in the NBA with his friend and agent Rich Paul. This person told Ben Standig and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic that LeBron is running the sports using unethical tactics, mismanaging players and making them lose tons of millions.
The Athletic conducted a poll to know what 20 NBA agents think of some of the hottest topics around the league and LeBron James was brought up by one of them. He admitted that he loves LeBron and all he’s done during his career but couldn't stay quiet about the things he sees and don’t like in the NBA.
LeBron James allegedly has become a player-agent in the last couple of years
This person accused the King of recruiting NBA players for Rich Paul, who later signs them as his clients. He claimed that the pair is trying to run the NBA like the AAU with all their dirty tactics.
“The worst thing that LeBron is doing is forcing this power with Rich Paul and what that is, in terms of, he’s a player, but he has prowess in the media space,” the NBA agent started on LeBron. “But now that they’ve jumped into the agent game, which the reality is, it’s illegal for a player, particularly if you’re in the state of California, to be licensed to represent talent.
“Now I know it’s this façade that it’s Rich Paul, but it’s really LeBron who recruits for Rich Paul. So it’s almost like they’re trying to control AAU at the NBA level.”
The agent then named people that he saw were taken advantage of by the partnership of LeBron and Paul, explaining how they took millions of dollars from their hands.
“They’ve been able to leverage [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope], two or three years in a row because they have the power and they’re forcing it down their throat. Nerlens Noel. There are four or five of them that have suffered millions of dollars from mismanagement but nobody has the courage to support it, because all the media wants access to LeBron… Nerlens Noel. Norris Cole. Shabazz Muhammed. They lost $80 million in Detroit. This is real talk.”
He finished his monologue expressing his love for LeBron James but making it clear that he doesn’t like the things the King might be doing under the table. He made some solid points here, but most people will see these words as just a LeBron hater disguised as an NBA agent trying to shade the now 4x NBA champion.
