Nerlens Noel sues Rich Paul, Klutch Sports

[celticsclay]

I’m surprised that no journalists have brought into question the conflict of interest regarding Klutch Sports clients & LeBron.

Just recently most people were surprised that Montrezl Harrell opted into a cheap player option with the Lakers, then ‘coincidentally’ he is used in the trade that brings Westbrook to the Lakers, a deal LeBron wanted.

This is a perfect example of a conflict of interest. How would Harrell know if better deals were on the table if all the information is being filtered through Klutch.

How is being used as a salary dump in the best interest of a client?

I actually like the concept of Klutch, but if I were an NBA player there is 0% chance I’d sign with them while LeBron is still playing in the NBA.

Yeah that was a really weird chain of events. You figure if Harrell was going to opt into a cheap deal he would want to do it for a contender at least.

I didn’t think Harrell would get better than that on the free agent market this year.  His value tanked a bit last season.

Im not saying he would get a huge deal somewhere, but for low money he could probably find a better spot than the wizards. They have two score first guards in beal and dinwiddie. Then they are high on their young guys and have a logjam on a few spots on their roster. I would be shocked if you had given Harrell the chance to sign with any team in the league for low money he wouldn’t prefer either a contender or a team like the hornets where he could probably had a bigger role. Heck if we didn’t sign kanter the Celtics maybe would have been a better situation for him.

[Moranis]

Harrell's contract was basically the full MLE.  He didn't opt into the minimum, he opted in to almost 10 million.  If he had signed with a contender, he would have only gotten the minimum or at the absolute max the tax payer MLE that Schroder got.  And no team was going to pay Harrell more than the MLE after the poor season he had the court last year.  Opting in was absolutely the right move for Harrell even if he ended up being traded (and remember he was either going to Sacramento or Washington, and I think everyone would rather be in Washington in that scenario).

[celticsclay]

Harrell's contract was basically the full MLE.  He didn't opt into the minimum, he opted in to almost 10 million.  If he had signed with a contender, he would have only gotten the minimum or at the absolute max the tax payer MLE that Schroder got.  And no team was going to pay Harrell more than the MLE after the poor season he had the court last year.  Opting in was absolutely the right move for Harrell even if he ended up being traded (and remember he was either going to Sacramento or Washington, and I think everyone would rather be in Washington in that scenario).

We have seen a lot of players opt out of high one year amounts for more guaranteed money over a few seasons in the last ten years. Especially when you start accounting for situation. I mean, I think there was definitely a chance we didn’t give Schroeder the highest one year amount of any team in the league, but he has a great role opportunity here and we are a playoff team. When you start acting like your opinion is absolute fact and there are not tons of examples of players making decisions contrary to this it is, at best, silly.

[celticsclay]

Harrell's contract was basically the full MLE.  He didn't opt into the minimum, he opted in to almost 10 million.  If he had signed with a contender, he would have only gotten the minimum or at the absolute max the tax payer MLE that Schroder got.  And no team was going to pay Harrell more than the MLE after the poor season he had the court last year.  Opting in was absolutely the right move for Harrell even if he ended up being traded (and remember he was either going to Sacramento or Washington, and I think everyone would rather be in Washington in that scenario).

We have seen a lot of players opt out of high one year amounts for more guaranteed money over a few seasons in the last ten years. Especially when you start accounting for situation. I mean, I think there was definitely a chance we didn’t give Schroeder the highest one year amount of any team in the league, but he has a great role opportunity here and we are a playoff team. When you start acting like your opinion is absolute fact and there are not tons of examples of players making decisions contrary to this it is, at best, silly.

Also for what is worth he averaged 13 and 7 on 62% shooting last year and is 27 years old. Acting like he is clearly done as decent role player is a bit strange. He got benched in the playoffs and the lakers had a glut of bigs in davis, gasol, Drummond and Lebron in some situations.

Jamychael green is 4 years older and got two years 15 million. I get green is a decent shooter but he averaged 8 and 5 last year and has a lot of the same limitations defensively that Harrell does.

Noel got 3 and 28 million and as good as he is defensively he is incredible limited offensively. He is also the same age as Harrell essentially, the idea that a one year contract on a lousy team for 9.7 for Harrell is amazing deal for him Doesn’t pass the proverbial sniff test.

Khem birch got 3 years 20 million guaranteed. He averaged 7 and 6 and is 28 years old. He also can’t hit threes.

[celticsclay]

Didn't see this exact passage here:

"Noel allegedly learned from Brett Brown, who was coaching the Philadelphia 76ers at the time, that the 76ers front office had been trying to contact Paul to discuss a potential deal and that Paul refused to respond. This was purportedly the case with other team representatives who were reaching out as well."

I guess if Brown testifies to this there is some meat here.

http://sportsagentblog.com/2021/08/24/nerlens-noel-blasts-nba-agent-rich-paul-in-new-lawsuit/

Also this:

Then, free agency hit and the first day was quiet. Noel says that he later learned that representatives from the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers wanted to discuss opportunities with Paul, but that they could not make contact. Leon Rose (who was formerly an agent at Creative Artists Agency but then the President of the New York Knicks) reached out about a deal and Noel ultimately signed a 1-year contract for $5 million.

Is this finally blowing up some of the shananigans happening around the league the last few years? The part about ignoring calls from the Clippers and Rockets to send him to play for his buddy in New York seems particularly [dang]ing.

On a somewhat comical side, between this and what is seemingly happening with simmons klutch has completely destroyed the 76ers. If the agency had taken calls for Noel that summer and got him on a reaonsable contract instead of greg monroe I think they may be have beaten the raptors and made the finals. 

[PAOBoston]

This will be very interesting. Klutch has been in the new a lot since they came around, mostly for bad news tbh. They have also had numerous high profile guys basically turn down big offers and then strike out afterwards (KCP/Noel/Morris/etc).

[celticsclay]

This will be very interesting. Klutch has been in the new a lot since they came around, mostly for bad news tbh. They have also had numerous high profile guys basically turn down big offers and then strike out afterwards (KCP/Noel/Morris/etc).

It’s interesting of the three guys you mentioned all played for rose or lebron right? Wonder if they had some ignored calls also

[PAOBoston]

This will be very interesting. Klutch has been in the new a lot since they came around, mostly for bad news tbh. They have also had numerous high profile guys basically turn down big offers and then strike out afterwards (KCP/Noel/Morris/etc).

o.
It’s interesting of the three guys you mentioned all played for rose or lebron right? Wonder if they had some ignored calls also

Exactly. Will be interesting to see if there are any sort of themes or similar circumstances with others too.

[Moranis]

This will be very interesting. Klutch has been in the new a lot since they came around, mostly for bad news tbh. They have also had numerous high profile guys basically turn down big offers and then strike out afterwards (KCP/Noel/Morris/etc).

Morris never turned down a big offer and he didn't strike out afterwards.  He actually ended up well ahead by backing out of the San Antonio deal (which was against what Paul told him to do).  Pope turned down 5 years, 80 million, and he didn't get it all back, but did get up into the 5 year, 60 million range (with more contractual freedom and won a title rather than being stuck in Detroit).

[Celtics4ever]

Just another reason Rich Paul should be banned from being an agent, besides all the tampering.  Ban him problem solved.

[bdm860]

According to Jake Fischer, this whole Noel thing may have messed up the Celtics:

The 76ers, and the team's coaching staff in particular, were indeed interested in landing Noel before Philadelphia shifted its sights to Al Horford, sources confirmed to B/R.

So Paul calls them back and they work something out, maybe Horford doesn't get the huge offer from Philly?

It's kind of funny though, because then these sources just pretty much admitted to tampering, since everybody knows the Horford deal was done before free agency started.

I wonder if that can be a defense for Paul?  "It was against the rules for me to call Philly back before free agency started."

[Roy H.]

I wonder if that can be a defense for Paul?  "It was against the rules for me to call Philly back before free agency started."

It could be, although Noel’s attorneys would seek discovery regarding other deals that Paul negotiated before free agency opened.

[Wretch]

I wonder if that can be a defense for Paul?  "It was against the rules for me to call Philly back before free agency started."

It could be, although Noel’s attorneys would seek discovery regarding other deals that Paul negotiated before free agency opened.

Let the tampering penalties begin. 

I think the NBA will want to squash this ASAP just so the teams that were negotiating outside the FA period won't be exposed.  The NBA (the Lakers) doesn't want to have to punish every team (the Lakers) that spoke to Klutch and tampered with FAs.

Wouldn't it be interesting if Klutch sabotaged Philly, a perceived Finals contender with young all stars, to make it easier for LeBron's Lakers... (taking off my tin foil hat now).

[Ogaju]

I wonder if that can be a defense for Paul?  "It was against the rules for me to call Philly back before free agency started."

It could be, although Noel’s attorneys would seek discovery regarding other deals that Paul negotiated before free agency opened.

Let the tampering penalties begin. 

I think the NBA will want to squash this ASAP just so the teams that were negotiating outside the FA period won't be exposed.  The NBA (the Lakers) doesn't want to have to punish every team (the Lakers) that spoke to Klutch and tampered with FAs.

Wouldn't it be interesting if Klutch sabotaged Philly, a perceived Finals contender with young all stars, to make it easier for LeBron's Lakers... (taking off my tin foil hat now).

Lakers did not need to talk to Klutch ….the principal at Klutch plays for the Lakers. Paul would have been better served if he were an attorney with all the attendant evidentiary privileges he could pose as objections discovery questions.

[celticsclay]

According to Jake Fischer, this whole Noel thing may have messed up the Celtics:

The 76ers, and the team's coaching staff in particular, were indeed interested in landing Noel before Philadelphia shifted its sights to Al Horford, sources confirmed to B/R.

So Paul calls them back and they work something out, maybe Horford doesn't get the huge offer from Philly?

It's kind of funny though, because then these sources just pretty much admitted to tampering, since everybody knows the Horford deal was done before free agency started.

I wonder if that can be a defense for Paul?  "It was against the rules for me to call Philly back before free agency started."

If you have not just Brown, but multiple sources in 76ers saying they could not get a hold of Noel's representation to make an offer isn't that pretty bad? If nothing else I would not want to sign with Klutch as a lower or medium level player for fear of this.