Photo Credit: Getty Images

Agents Across The NBA Cheered Nerlens Noel’s Lawsuit Against Rich Paul

Klutch Sports has been gaining a lot of traction and popularity in these past few years as one of the top agencies in the NBA and sports in general.

Behind Rich Paul’s brilliance, Klutch Sports Group has been able to garner huge success, and now represents some of the top talents in the NBA including LeBron James, Anthony Davis, John Wall, Ben Simmons and Trae Young.

But now, a lawsuit has been filed against Paul by his former client, Nerlens Noel. Noel claims that Rich Paul is responsible for $58 million in lost earnings.

And it seems as a lot of people are cheering on Noel in his fight against Klutch Sports.

Per Bleacher Report’s Jake Fisher:

NBA agents across the league cheered Nerlens Noel’s lawsuit this week against powerbroker Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.

Paul, a noted player representative and close friend of LeBron James, has reached the upper echelon of the NBA’s player representation economy, wielding an unpopular influence that many figures around the league believe comes from working alongside the greatest player of his generation. That naturally creates a few adversaries in the process.

The latest now appears to be Noel, who says Paul cost him $58 million in forfeited salary after Noel declined a four-year, $70 million offer from the Mavericks in 2017. Noel fired his then-agent Happy Walters, who had negotiated the $70 million deal, under Paul’s direction. And Noel then took Paul’s advice to decline the deal in search of a richer payday the following summer.

That accept-the-qualifying-offer, bet-on-yourself tactic—in addition to client-poaching from other agents—has drawn ire from Paul’s rivals in the agency world. To be fair, they are often guilty of the same activities; a significant portion of income for larger agencies is generated by poaching clients before a player’s next lucrative deal.