I case you haven't heard, besides being a tremendous basketball player, LeBron James is also an entrepreneur. He has many different products that sponsors, owns real estate and is one of the founders of a marketing agency called LRMR. LRMR is an anacronym for the four founders of the marketing agency, LeBron James, Richard Paul(James' agent), Maverick Carter and Randy Sims, all boyhood friends of LeBron's.
But recently, LRMR has been making some news and now they are starting to blur the lines set up by the NBA for tampering with players and high school and college recruits. Why? Because of LeBron's involvement. Here, Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer explains
here:
(Chris)Paul has said he isn't formally represented by LRMR, even though most in the league have heard since last winter that he will be. As Commissioner David Stern said, he can't prevent players from talking to each other. When everyone is a pro, that's simply business.
But if you're looking for something that doesn't make sense, it is the extreme double standard LRMR and James enjoy with the college and high school ranks. James is permitted to hold camps with high school and college players who will be pros in less than a year while at the same time he's basically recruiting them to sign with his agency.
At the July Nike camp in Akron that has all the top high school players and college stars acting as "counselors," there are signs everywhere that agents aren't allowed in the building. Even college coaches aren't allowed there. But Maverick Carter, the head and chief recruiter for LRMR, is allowed to be there and have unchecked access to these players while James gives them free shoes and gets to know them and their families.
Then nine months later his firm is trying to sign some of them to agent contracts. All of this while NCAA officials are literally sitting there in the stands supposedly monitoring that all the rules are followed.
LRMR has not been taking advantage of this edge and has not been able to land many of its top targets over the last three years. This year it missed on John Wall after a very hard recruitment led -- it would seem illegally by NCAA standards -- by James. He got to know Wall's family well and contacted him regularly during the season. Which we know because James openly talked about it.
Right now, the agent recruiting situation is rife with illegalities and many agents are bending or breaking rules to get players. Most aren't even hiding it. With so many high school stars knowing they are going to be "one and done," the system that has developed is, many line up agents and benefits before they start college.
Only once has the NBA done anything about it, and that was when Bill Duffy's agency was hit with penalties for giving O.J. Mayo $30,000 while he was at USC.
One of the secrets no one talks about is many of the top freshman-to-be already are on track to sign with various agents next spring. The AAU coaches know it, the college coaches know it and even the NBA teams scouting them know it. So what LRMR is doing is only part of the issue; they just are much more brazen with doing it in the wide open.
So it is pretty obvious that LRMR is run, indirectly, though Lebron James because it is his money and income that was the driving force behind the agency to begin with and remians so to this day.
Recently, Chris Paul fired his agent and although he has yet to formally hire an agent it is pretty much known around NBA circles that Richard Paul is his agent and that he is being tremendously influenced by Maverick Carter and LeBron as well. Paul's recent brouhaha about being traded to a team where he could form his own Big Three to rival the Lakers, Celtics and Miami is well documented. But if LeBron is the one whispering in his ear trying to precipitate the events that would lead up to this, is it not up to the league to do something about it due to LeBron's involvement and ownership in LRMR?
I understand players are allowed to talk to player but LeBron is more than just a player. He is an owner of a firm that recruits players as their legal representation as a player agent. The duplicity is obvious.
Another example is LeBron's Nike camp that he has every year for the best high school basketball players in the country in Akron. The best or the best are invited to Akron to participate in the camp and take lessons and receive pointers from their hero, LeBron James. No sports agents are allowed anywhere near the camp. And yet the owners of LRMR, a sports marketing agency and representation firm for athletes are seen walking undeterred through the camp talking to parents and high school players and building relationships with them.
In 2009, John Wall was a participant in this camp and LeBron and Maverick Carter, through the use of this camp, grew a relationship with John Wall and his family. During Wall's season at Kentucky, Lebron was in constant contact with the youngster talking with him all the time. Given that LeBron is an owner in a sports representation firm, does this not constitute a violation of NCAA rules regarding recruitment of players while they are still playing ball?
LRMR lost out on John Wall but there will be others. The machinations are in place for young recruits that will be high draft picks and superstars in the NBA to get to meet the NBA's current biggest superstar and get to know him. He can then mention, in talks, about his friends that will be able to help them when the time is right them to become NBA players. And then once they are NBA players, Lebron can give them advice about where they should sign, when they should force a GM's hands for a trade, and direct major player movement within the NBA.
Is it all within the rules because LeBron is a player and it is Richard Paul that is the player agent? Sure. Is it blurring the lines of player recruitment and tampering? Absolutely. Sooner or later, the league is going to have to look into this because it smacks of corruption and sooner or later, something is going to come out that is going to taint the very marketable name of one, Lebron James, and the league definitely does not want that.
Topic: The duplicity of LeBron James, player/agent. (Read 2618 times)