What is your take on Klutch involvement in the league and media?

[whatisacenter]

It’s probably not too different from other agencies unless you’re the LeLos Brongeles Klutchers.

[Myth]

I mean powerful agencies have always existed in sports and the NBA. The real reason this bothers so many of you is because black men now have the power and influence. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to you about it before....

Let's at least be real about what this is all about. Now flame away and call me woke and all the usual political nonsense, but man we need to cut through the bull sometimes around here.

Players should have agency and independence. Having powerful advocates working on their behalf is never a bad thing. The billionaire governors are doing just fine I can assure you.

And giggles at thinking media has just now been bought. Local guys have been mouthpieces for teams for decades. Your hero Woj always paid for access by writing pieces on behalf of teams or agents.

Klutch didn't invent any of this.

I don’t disagree that racism is behind the disapproval for many, but I think there are also many like me who have issues with it in terms of conflict of interest. You say Klutch didn’t invent any of this, but clearly there has never before been an NBA player so closely tied to an agency pulling the strings of teams around the league as the LeBron and Klutch relationship. They seem to do some independent stuff too, but there has always been the perception that they cater to LeBron’s needs first. There was an instance of Rich Paul saying “us” in reference to the Lakers when he probably has an agent on most every team in the league.

[ForeverTFC]

Is Klutch any more aggressively Machiavellian in its manipulation of situations and events than previous agencies or current competitors? I don't know if that's true (or untrue).

Is Klutch more overt about it? More narcissistic? To my eyes, yes. That more than anything gets some fans upset—a hypervisible villain. I don't spend much time thinking about it, personally.

What exactly is overt about it?

CAA is literally running the Knicks, with plausible tampering and cap circumvention charges all around them and no one says a thing. The Nuggets sign Westbrook as their savior, yet we rarely see people talking about Jokic/Excel bringing him on to that roster to the determinant of the team. Why is that?

What are the charges against Klutch?
- They do Lebron's bidding? Show me an agency that doesn't cater to their stars.
- That they use Lebron as leverage to get others paid? Show me an agency that doesn't leverage their star clients for business.
- That they want the maximum amount of money they possible can get for their players? That's literally an agency's job.
- That they will ask for trades and force it to their preferred destination? Again, literally an agency's job.
- That they try to craft media narratives in favor of their client? Once again, their job.

Klutch is vilified because of Lebron and Rich Paul - they are the reason Kluch is so hypervisible in your words. The common hang-ups on Lebron are well known. With Rich Paul, people just don't like that a guy like him "got lucky and made it". It's straight up jealousy, and at the risk of triggering the usual suspects again, a touch of racism.

Avon and Stringer didn't sit right with some folks either, even though they were playing the same game as others.

I don’t disagree that racism is behind the disapproval for many, but I think there are also many like me who have issues with it in terms of conflict of interest. You say Klutch didn’t invent any of this, but clearly there has never before been an NBA player so closely tied to an agency pulling the strings of teams around the league as the LeBron and Klutch relationship. They seem to do some independent stuff too, but there has always been the perception that they cater to LeBron’s needs first. There was an instance of Rich Paul saying “us” in reference to the Lakers when he probably has an agent on most every team in the league.

I'm sure that's part of it, but why isn't Leon Rose and CAA getting the same flack? What is the most visible difference here?

[Myth]

I don’t disagree that racism is behind the disapproval for many, but I think there are also many like me who have issues with it in terms of conflict of interest. You say Klutch didn’t invent any of this, but clearly there has never before been an NBA player so closely tied to an agency pulling the strings of teams around the league as the LeBron and Klutch relationship. They seem to do some independent stuff too, but there has always been the perception that they cater to LeBron’s needs first. There was an instance of Rich Paul saying “us” in reference to the Lakers when he probably has an agent on most every team in the league.

I'm sure that's part of it, but why isn't Leon Rose and CAA getting the same flack? What is the most visible difference here?

I don't know enough about Leon Rose to give any insight. Heard the name before, but that is it.

[Texas Chuck]

I mean powerful agencies have always existed in sports and the NBA. The real reason this bothers so many of you is because black men now have the power and influence. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to you about it before....

Let's at least be real about what this is all about. Now flame away and call me woke and all the usual political nonsense, but man we need to cut through the bull sometimes around here.

Players should have agency and independence. Having powerful advocates working on their behalf is never a bad thing. The billionaire governors are doing just fine I can assure you.

And giggles at thinking media has just now been bought. Local guys have been mouthpieces for teams for decades. Your hero Woj always paid for access by writing pieces on behalf of teams or agents.

Klutch didn't invent any of this.

I don’t disagree that racism is behind the disapproval for many, but I think there are also many like me who have issues with it in terms of conflict of interest. You say Klutch didn’t invent any of this, but clearly there has never before been an NBA player so closely tied to an agency pulling the strings of teams around the league as the LeBron and Klutch relationship. They seem to do some independent stuff too, but there has always been the perception that they cater to LeBron’s needs first. There was an instance of Rich Paul saying “us” in reference to the Lakers when he probably has an agent on most every team in the league.

Eh Dallas had a very close relationship with an agent where clearly his influence was significant. I'm sure fans of other teams can tell similar stories.

The Lebron ties make it bigger news, but this has long been a thing. And yes the most powerful clients will always be a priority, but there are ethical considerations so I'm not comfortable with accusations that they aren't serving the interests of their other clients independently without some clear and convincing evidence and not just speculation because its Lebron.

[jokeboy86]

Is Klutch any more aggressively Machiavellian in its manipulation of situations and events than previous agencies or current competitors? I don't know if that's true (or untrue).

Is Klutch more overt about it? More narcissistic? To my eyes, yes. That more than anything gets some fans upset—a hypervisible villain. I don't spend much time thinking about it, personally.

What exactly is overt about it?

CAA is literally running the Knicks, with plausible tampering and cap circumvention charges all around them and no one says a thing. The Nuggets sign Westbrook as their savior, yet we rarely see people talking about Jokic/Excel bringing him on to that roster to the determinant of the team. Why is that?

What are the charges against Klutch?
- They do Lebron's bidding? Show me an agency that doesn't cater to their stars.
- That they use Lebron as leverage to get others paid? Show me an agency that doesn't leverage their star clients for business.
- That they want the maximum amount of money they possible can get for their players? That's literally an agency's job.
- That they will ask for trades and force it to their preferred destination? Again, literally an agency's job.
- That they try to craft media narratives in favor of their client? Once again, their job.

Klutch is vilified because of Lebron and Rich Paul - they are the reason Kluch is so hypervisible in your words. The common hang-ups on Lebron are well known. With Rich Paul, people just don't like that a guy like him "got lucky and made it". It's straight up jealousy, and at the risk of triggering the usual suspects again, a touch of racism.

Avon and Stringer didn't sit right with some folks either, even though they were playing the same game as others.

I don’t disagree that racism is behind the disapproval for many, but I think there are also many like me who have issues with it in terms of conflict of interest. You say Klutch didn’t invent any of this, but clearly there has never before been an NBA player so closely tied to an agency pulling the strings of teams around the league as the LeBron and Klutch relationship. They seem to do some independent stuff too, but there has always been the perception that they cater to LeBron’s needs first. There was an instance of Rich Paul saying “us” in reference to the Lakers when he probably has an agent on most every team in the league.

I'm sure that's part of it, but why isn't Leon Rose and CAA getting the same flack? What is the most visible difference here?

Bingo. People have a problem because to NBA agents and media Paul just seems like one of Lebron's high school friends who lucked into being an NBA agent and his manager and they think he has no qualifications unlike other agents(whatever that exactly is). Falk, Boras, and others did the exact same things as Paul it's just that they may not have been as visible.

The hate that Lebron gets really boils down to the media era he's in. As many articles, books, personal testimonials, and of course "The Last Dance" showed, Jordan literally did some of the same things as Lebron is criticized for doing and even as owner of the Hornets continued doing to an extent. The only difference is that a large portion of media then and still somewhat now fears Jordan and his wrath.

[madskillz8]

Is Klutch any more aggressively Machiavellian in its manipulation of situations and events than previous agencies or current competitors? I don't know if that's true (or untrue).

Is Klutch more overt about it? More narcissistic? To my eyes, yes. That more than anything gets some fans upset—a hypervisible villain. I don't spend much time thinking about it, personally.

What exactly is overt about it?

CAA is literally running the Knicks, with plausible tampering and cap circumvention charges all around them and no one says a thing. The Nuggets sign Westbrook as their savior, yet we rarely see people talking about Jokic/Excel bringing him on to that roster to the determinant of the team. Why is that?

What are you talking about? As a regular reader of the GB, I remember myriad of mentions of this relation very recently, including my post:

It's clearly a collusion - but who cares? Not Silver, for sure. This situation itself proves NBA is not a serious business or a sports event. Same for CAA and New York.

Why is that? Oh noooo, sure Klutch owner is Black, and that should be racism. Let's forget about all the collusion and conflict of interest...

[ForeverTFC]

Is Klutch any more aggressively Machiavellian in its manipulation of situations and events than previous agencies or current competitors? I don't know if that's true (or untrue).

Is Klutch more overt about it? More narcissistic? To my eyes, yes. That more than anything gets some fans upset—a hypervisible villain. I don't spend much time thinking about it, personally.

What exactly is overt about it?

CAA is literally running the Knicks, with plausible tampering and cap circumvention charges all around them and no one says a thing. The Nuggets sign Westbrook as their savior, yet we rarely see people talking about Jokic/Excel bringing him on to that roster to the determinant of the team. Why is that?

What are you talking about? As a regular reader of the GB, I remember myriad of mentions of this relation very recently, including my post:

It's clearly a collusion - but who cares? Not Silver, for sure. This situation itself proves NBA is not a serious business or a sports event. Same for CAA and New York.

Why is that? Oh noooo, sure Klutch owner is Black, and that should be racism. Let's forget about all the collusion and conflict of interest...

Show me the threads about CAA collusion and I'll show you the threads about Klutch. Show me the threads that paint CAA as the villains of the NBA and I'll show you the Klutch threads. To pretend the narrative is comparable is just disingenuous.

You are pretending like collusion and conflict of interest are new. There is nothing new about this, Klutch and Rich Paul are simply following the playbook every top agent/agency has pursued. What's new is an inner city kid using his connections to create the most influential basketball agency in North America.

In this very thread, the OP is calling out Klutch for controlling the media, when this literally happened in the last 2 years: https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/espn-caa-woj-and-ime-udoka

Thinking race has nothing to do with it is just pure ignorance. I'm not saying it's the only driver. I'm not even asserting that it is the primary driver. But that any discerning person without an agenda and ideology can look at this and say "race has nothing to do with it" is absurd.

[ForeverTFC]

I'm sure that's part of it, but why isn't Leon Rose and CAA getting the same flack? What is the most visible difference here?

I don't know enough about Leon Rose to give any insight. Heard the name before, but that is it.

That's kind of my point. Why does Klutch get so vilified when CAA and the Knicks exist? To be clear, I don't ascribe every fan that sees Klutch in a negative light with ill intent. But I think we should all recognize why Klutch is a talking point to begin with while all other agents and agencies get to operate in the save way but in the shadows. Does Klutch bring it on themselves? To some degree yes, the Lebron connection is very visible. But we all know there are other reasons at play here.

[sol537]

When Lebron retires... will Klutch lose the vast majority of their influence?

[ScrantonBulls]

Nearly all of the people that whine about Klutch are your typical uninformed viewers that know little to nothing about agencies I'm the NBA or how they work. These people are running on pure emotion and just getting upset because LeBron's friend runs Klutch.

They can't even go into detail about why they hate Klutch. It's just "collusion!", which is laughably similar to the unsensical, incoherent ramblings of a certain famous individual.

[Sixers in 4]

Klutch works for their player clients and like every agency, fulfills their duty in whatever way the player hires them to get the job done. Nothing different about them and other agencies.

People targeting klutch just shows how good they are at their job by getting you to blame them and not the player they work for. Klutch is playing chess on you while you’re playing checkers.

Scott Boras is hated because he has a strategy where he wants his players to always hit free agency and heavily dissuades his clients from signing extensions. The likelihood that a Boras client will eventually leave is increased because fans are aware that he will almost certainly reach free agency.

Klutch, on the other hand, is known for its engineering exits. Ben Simmons, for example. Anthony Davis. They have shown a willingness to shatter norms, like publicly demanding a trade to LA in the Davis case to do so and being (Paul) fined by the NBA as a result. For the same reason, other agents despise them since they refuse to follow the very loose guidelines that other agents follow. As an example, they go after other agents clients hard when they are about to negotiate an extension or become a free agent. Leaving other agents to do the work, managing the day interactions with the client for years, then swooping in to reap the benefit.

They have demonstrated a willingness to take advantage of Lebron's connections in order to essentially use him as a client recruiter.

[Godymas]

I almost respect the NFL more because of willing the owners and FOs are to hold out and put players in uncomfortable situations. It’s part of why the NFL has been the superior product for the last few years. Also the NFL makes players go through so much more risk for less money.

NBA stars get to be divas because real NBA superstar talent is incredibly rare. In 75 years Jokic was the only MVP to come from the 2nd round. Meanwhile the greatest player in NFL history was a 6th round 3rd stringer. NFL superstars randomly pop up late in the draft all the time. GOAT level guys like TJ Watt, Aaron Donald, Rodgers, etc. do not start off as consensus #1 picks.

Klutch is truthfully taking advantage of the league and it isn’t healthy for a balance of power to tip too much one way. It hurts paying fans when stars do holdouts or forget to show up in order to teach the FO a lesson. It’s frustrating because the NBA in game experience is the best one in sports and the tickets are incredibly expensive. If a player holds out they really need to answer to the fans and do other activities such as community reach out or content generation to appease the people that got them paid in the first place.

[AFM]

all I know is I got ya girl Klutchin deez nutz OP got emmm

[SkyHook]

Idk I feel like most people feel about Klutch however they feel about LeBron.

Which is how you get people saying a sports agency is narcissistic (which wtf is that even supposed to mean? lmao)

There was a thing that blew up a bit on Twitter a while back. Tweets that had long referred to "Rich Paul of Klutch" became "Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch". It came out that this was at Paul's insistence. So yes, it came across as narcissistic. And insecure.

[Synciere]

How sad and pathetic it must be to view every problem through the prism of race, especially when there are so many other instances of powerful agencies and agents who are equally despised, such as Drew Rosenhaus and Scott Boras.

Like the other agents, I believe that Klutch primary responsibility is to their clients, not the overall well-being of the game. So no I don't have any positive view of any powerful agents regardless of race because I am a fan of the game not how much money players get to make or worried whether they get to play in their preferred city.

Are we discussing every problem in sports in this thread? In the world? Or are we discussing just this one agency in the NBA?

The problem with bringing up race in these conversations is that hyperbole like your first statement takes over. We can discuss race in this one instance without exaggeration.

[dockingsched]

Klutch works for their player clients and like every agency, fulfills their duty in whatever way the player hires them to get the job done. Nothing different about them and other agencies.

People targeting klutch just shows how good they are at their job by getting you to blame them and not the player they work for. Klutch is playing chess on you while you’re playing checkers.

Scott Boras is hated because he has a strategy where he wants his players to always hit free agency and heavily dissuades his clients from signing extensions. The likelihood that a Boras client will eventually leave is increased because fans are aware that he will almost certainly reach free agency.

Klutch, on the other hand, is known for its engineering exits. Ben Simmons, for example. Anthony Davis. They have shown a willingness to shatter norms, like publicly demanding a trade to LA in the Davis case to do so and being (Paul) fined by the NBA as a result. For the same reason, other agents despise them since they refuse to follow the very loose guidelines that other agents follow. As an example, they go after other agents clients hard when they are about to negotiate an extension or become a free agent. Leaving other agents to do the work, managing the day interactions with the client for years, then swooping in to reap the benefit.

They have demonstrated a willingness to take advantage of Lebron's connections in order to essentially use him as a client recruiter.

Klutch answers to the player, not the other way around. Klutch does what the player pays them to do. Boras does what the player pays them to do. I don’t think people understand this.

[ForeverTFC]

Klutch works for their player clients and like every agency, fulfills their duty in whatever way the player hires them to get the job done. Nothing different about them and other agencies.

People targeting klutch just shows how good they are at their job by getting you to blame them and not the player they work for. Klutch is playing chess on you while you’re playing checkers.

Scott Boras is hated because he has a strategy where he wants his players to always hit free agency and heavily dissuades his clients from signing extensions. The likelihood that a Boras client will eventually leave is increased because fans are aware that he will almost certainly reach free agency.

Klutch, on the other hand, is known for its engineering exits. Ben Simmons, for example. Anthony Davis. They have shown a willingness to shatter norms, like publicly demanding a trade to LA in the Davis case to do so and being (Paul) fined by the NBA as a result. For the same reason, other agents despise them since they refuse to follow the very loose guidelines that other agents follow. As an example, they go after other agents clients hard when they are about to negotiate an extension or become a free agent. Leaving other agents to do the work, managing the day interactions with the client for years, then swooping in to reap the benefit.

They have demonstrated a willingness to take advantage of Lebron's connections in order to essentially use him as a client recruiter.

Klutch answers to the player, not the other way around. Klutch does what the player pays them to do. Boras does what the player pays them to do. I don’t think people understand this.

The notion that an agent has any responsibility to the fans and the game is so ridiculous. The league and its owners, the players, and the media definitely have a responsibility to the fans. The agents do not; their entire responsibility is to the player.

[Myth]

When Lebron retires... will Klutch lose the vast majority of their influence?

I doubt it. They’ve grown powerful and I suspect that is sustainable. My only concern is if LeBron buys a team, how much favoritism does it get from his buddy.

[NBA4Lyfe]

The klutch sports agenda along with the attacking and trashing of non Nike players see kawhi, harden is just one of the many reasons the nba is dead to me after harden retires