Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Parts Ways With Agents, Will Represent Himself On Supermax

[RealGM Wiretap]

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has parted ways with Thaddeus Foucher and Joe Smith as his agents, sources tell Chris Haynes. Foucher and Smith are agents with Wasserman.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who will become eligible to sign a four-year, $294 million supermax extension during the 2025 offseason, will represent himself for his standard NBA contracts. Gilgeous-Alexander will become the first player to earn a salary above $80 million as his 30-31 contract will reach $81.5 million.

With NBA agents charging a maximum of four percent as their fee, Gilgeous-Alexander will save as much as $11.76 million over the life of the four-year supermax by representing himself. Gilgeous-Alexander will retain his current representation for all off-the-court ventures.

Joel Embiid and James Harden are two prominent players who have represented themselves in recent years.

Via Chris Haynes

[HotelVitale]

May as well, since the negotiation will be: ‘gimme a super max.’ ‘Okay.’

[Pickled Prunes]

May as well, since the negotiation will be: ‘gimme a super max.’ ‘Okay.’

I wonder how many pages of fine print are in a typical NBA contract.

[jstudabaka]

May as well, since the negotiation will be: ‘gimme a super max.’ ‘Okay.’

I wonder how many pages of fine print are in a typical NBA contract.

He'll probably have a lawyer for that I imagine.

[Luv those Knicks]

Edit ^ ^ ^ already pointed out.

May as well, since the negotiation will be: ‘gimme a super max.’ ‘Okay.’

I wonder how many pages of fine print are in a typical NBA contract.

If he's smart, he'll pay a lawyer to read the contract. That should be a no brainer, even if he doesn't have an agent. Ray Allen did this when he was up for an extension. I think the max contract for Ray was a given, so Ray paid Johnny Cochran (of OJ Simpson fame) $500 an hour to read the contract. Far cheaper than going through an agent.

[gabri3l3]

I'm no expert in legal stuff but I wonder why more players aren't doing this especially star players

[Alex_84]

I'm no expert in legal stuff but I wonder why more players aren't doing this especially star players

My question is on totally opposite side: How is a player legally able to cut off his agents for this negotiation but work with them on off-court stuff? Because I'm guessing this is the most amount of money agents could possibly make when collaborating with a player... So it's strange they don't build that obligation into their contract with a star player.

[iserp]

I'm no expert in legal stuff but I wonder why more players aren't doing this especially star players

My question is on totally opposite side: How is a player legally able to cut off his agents for this negotiation but work with them on off-court stuff? Because I'm guessing this is the most amount of money agents could possibly make when collaborating with a player... So it's strange they don't build that obligation into their contract with a star player.

Perhaps the agents should hire an agent themselves

[Bk68]

I'm no expert in legal stuff but I wonder why more players aren't doing this especially star players

How is LeBron not representing himself?

[Luv those Knicks]

I'm no expert in legal stuff but I wonder why more players aren't doing this especially star players

How is LeBron not representing himself?

I'm not well read in this at all, but there are reasons to hire an agent, even if the max contract is guaranteed.

One: The agent can ask questions like whether the player has a say on moves the team makes, or discuss things like no trade clauses. Granted verbal promises don't always hold, but the fact remains, the agent can bring up topics that a player might be uncomfortable bringing up with the team he's playing for. The agent can call the team and say "my player is unhappy about this", where, if the player makes that phone-call, he looks like he's complaining. That added buffer can circumvent uncomfortable conversations and make it easier to ask for things.

Maybe that's not worth 4% or whatever is negotiated, but it's worth something.

Two: Agents don't just negotiate with teams, they also negotiate with advertisers. I'm guessing that Shai kept his agent for those negotiations, but that's just a guess.

[fuller4379]

May as well, since the negotiation will be: ‘gimme a super max.’ ‘Okay.’

That seems like the way it should go, but this is Oklahoma City.