Tag: Rich Paul

Alvin Kamara’s agent joins Klutch Sports; Lakers trade request imminent?

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara will be up for a new contract extension, and his agent Demarius Bilbo just joined Klutch Sports

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New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara is under contract with the team through the 2020 season, but he’ll soon be eligible to negotiate an extension. That’s dramatic enough as it is; before the 2019 season, Kamara looked to be in position to join Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott as one of the top-paid young runners in football, thanks to his sky-high efficiency numbers and impressive knack for scoring touchdowns.

Instead, his production trailed off a bit in an injury-plagued campaign, and it’s fair to wonder if he figures into New Orleans’ long-term plans. Considering that other former Saints skills position talent such as Jimmy Graham and Brandin Cooks have been shipped out of town, it’s not impossible to imagine a trade developing should the Saints think they’re getting back fair value.

On Wednesday, Kamara’s looming contract talks with the team took an unexpected turn when NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Kamara’s agent, Damarius Bilbo of Revolution Sports, would be joining Klutch Sports. Bilbo will now head Klutch’s football division and bring his roster of agency partners and clients with him beneath Klutch’s banner.

This is noteworthy because of Klutch’s role as antagonists in the Anthony Davis trade saga experienced by New Orleans Pelicans fans last year. Klutch is headed by Davis’s agent Rich Paul, who also represents LeBron James and angled to get both of his top clients together with the Los Angeles Lakers. His heavy-handed negotiating tactics sat poorly with Pelicans fans, though a deal was eventually worked out. So now we’re left asking, tongue very firmly in cheek, whether Paul will try to wrest away another icon from the New Orleans sports scene. Hey, it almost happened in HBO’s “Ballers,” didn’t it?

All jokes aside: this likely means next to nothing for Kamara’s future with the Saints. We’ll find out in just a few months whether the team intends to take a proactive approach with his contract (as they did last summer with Michael Thomas, Cameron Jordan, and Wil Lutz) or if they would rather let him play out his low-cost rookie deal before opening negotiations. All that’s certain right now is how the offseason never seems to pass by quietly in New Orleans.

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Report: Anthony Davis to get MRI, expected to miss Lakers next road trip

The Los Angeles Lakers star big man will likely miss the next two games, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

The Los Angeles Lakers appear to have dodged serious injury with the nasty fall of superstar big man Anthony Davis, but the Lakers are going to take some time to make sure that Davis is back to full strength when he does return to the basketball court.

Davis is expected to miss the Lakers upcoming two-game road trip in Dallas and Oklahoma City and will also get an MRI on his tailbone Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

Davis previously missed two games this season and the Lakers are 1-1 in those games. Without him in the middle, the logical next step for the Lakers would be a bigger role for Kyle Kuzma. Kuzma has seen his minutes go down in large part due to the fact Davis prefers to play the power forward position Kuzma normally played in his first two seasons with the Lakers.

With Kuzma likely in line for a bigger role, other Lakers will have to step up in addition to James. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 16 points off the bench on Tuesday and he is likely another player who will be counted on to score even more while Davis returns to full health.

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Rich Paul and Klutch Sports add top prospect Chase Young to growing list of NFL clients

Ohio State defensive end Chase Young was arguably the best player in college football. Now he is the latest high-profile athlete to join the growing stable of football clients represented by Rich Paul and Klutch Sports.

Ohio State defensive end Chase Young was arguably the best player in college football. Now he is the latest high-profile athlete to join the growing list of football clients represented by Rich Paul and Klutch Sports. Young’s Ohio State teammate, Jeff Okudah, signed with Klutch over the weekend and both players are projected as first round picks.

Chase is coming off a year where he was named a unanimous All-American and won both the the Nagurski and Bednarik awards as the nation’s top defensive player. He was also a Heisman finalist and honored as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He is expected to be the second pick of this year’s draft and has an outside chance to go as high as No. 1 overall.

Klutch announced the signing of Young on Twitter today along with the signing of several other football prospects. That list includes Virginia cornerback Bryce Hall, Wake Forest cornerback Essang Bassey, and Vanderbilt running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn.

It’s reasonable to expect that additional football signings could be announced in the coming days. But make no mistake, the signing of a player the caliber of Chase Young is a statement that Paul and Klutch have officially arrived in the NFL.

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Klutch Sports will represent Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah in NFL Draft

Rich Paul and Klutch Sports will represent Ohio State defensive back Jeff Okudah in NFL.

Rich Paul and Klutch Sports will be representing Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah in the upcoming NFL Draft. Okudah is an All-American and the No. 5 overall player on Mel Kiper’s big board as the top cornerback prospect coming out of college. He expects to be the first NFL player that Paul and Klutch will have in professional football and should enter the league as a top pick.

The Buckeyes best defensive back emerged as one of the premiere cornerbacks in the country during the 2019 season. He earned unanimous All-American honors this past season and also made the All-Big Ten first team while becoming a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award.

Okudah wrote in the Players Tribune about his team’s season under first-year coach Ryan Day.

“There’s Coach Day, who took over for Coach Meyer and made sure we didn’t miss a beat. That was huge. Coach Day’s trust in me really allowed me to develop over this past year as a leader — and he’s also been a great leader by example himself. He has this unique personability, this ability to bring a big group together, that I’ve learned a lot from.

“It’s like, yeah, football can be a cutthroat sport. It can get rough. But at the end of the day we all have love for each other. I want to make sure I keep some of that with me from Coach Day as I move on to the next level.”

Despite the loss in the semifinal, Okudah turned in one of his best games of the season during the College Football Playoff loss to Clemson. He helped slow down the Tigers talented receivers and keep the game within striking distance for the OSU offense in the 29-23 loss. As Klutch Sports continues to enter the professional football ranks, Okudah will always be the first player who helped the agency expand outside of basketball with his marquee commitment.

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LOOK: LaVar Ball sits courtside with Rich Paul at Pelicans game vs. Lakers

In his return to Staples Center on Friday, LaVar Ball was spotted on the sideline sitting next to Klutch Sports founder Rich Paul.

As Lonzo Ball and the fellow Baby Lakers made a return to Los Angeles in the first meeting on the road against the Lakers, so to did LaVar Ball make a triumphant reappearance. Once a fixture on the Staples Center sidelines, Ball’s appearances have been fewer and further between with sons across the country and globe.

On Friday, though, LaVar was back on the sideline and had an interesting neighbor to him in Klutch Sports founder Rich Paul.

Paul, who is also the famous agent of LeBron James, has had minimal public interaction with Ball in the past. The closest the two were connected recently involved speculation that Lonzo would sign with Klutch Sports early in 2019 after parting ways with then agent Harrison Gaines.

Pau has spoken highly of LaVar in the past as a father figure.

“I respect LaVar as a man, as a father. And I hope when my sons get older, I’m as passionate about them as he is about his.”

Both also have squared off with the NCAA in recent years. Paul was the assumed focus of a rule implemented by the NCAA regarding qualifications for agents to represent college athletes. LaVar, meanwhile, started up the JBA as a form of protest against the NCAA. Youngest son LaMelo also took a route through the National Basketball League in Australia largely amid speculation of eligibility concerns with the NCAA.

Off the floor, though, James and Green …

Off the floor, though, James and Green have developed a friendship that extends beyond basketball. Both James and Green are represented by James’ childhood friend, agent Rich Paul, and Green has been a guest on James’ HBO show “The Shop.” As the player empowerment era has grown in prominence in recent years, Green appreciates the fact that James has been at the forefront, setting an example for young players. “It’s meant a lot,” Green said of James’ advocacy. “[People thought] he made one of the biggest mistakes in his career [in 2010] when he decided to take his talents to South Beach. And it ended up being one of the most powerful moves in sports history today.”

Publicly requesting a trade, whether by …

Publicly requesting a trade, whether by a player or his representatives, is a violation under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. The league frowns upon such requests, with commissioner Adam Silver saying in the past, “From the league’s standpoint, we disfavor trade demands.” Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis was fined $50,000 last season when he was a member of the New Orleans Pelicans after his agent, Rich Paul, publicly acknowledged that they requested a trade.