Rich Paul Says White American Players Don’t Trust Black Sports Agents

Sports agent Rich Paul has negotiated over $4 Billion in deals as the founder of Klutch Sports Group. With all of his success and a portfolio of clients that include NBA stars LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and  Draymond Green, Paul says that white American players still don’t trust Black agents, the Daily Mail reports.

In an appearance on SiriusXM's The Clay Cane Show,  Paul was asked by Clay Cane if it was true that white players are leery of having Black representation.

Paul made the claim while making a distinction between white American-born players and white players from other countries.

“That’s accurate, yeah. … It’s not international players because international players actually have a different outlook on it… But if you grew up in, you know, Indiana or Georgia or, you know, or Oklahoma, or even Ohio for that matter. Yeah, no.”

Paul added, “You would think it’d be a line down the street, but it’s not.”

Paul also noted that he has white athletes as clients, such as the Suns' center Jusuf Nurkic who's from Bosnia. He currently has no American-born white NBA players on his roster.

While he usually prefers being in the background, Paul has been making appearances and doing interviews to promote his new memoir, Lucky Me:A Memoir of Changing the Odds, where he recounts his meteoric rise from hustling on the street to meeting James at an airport which changed his life.

In anticipation of Paul’s interview on 60 Minutes that aired last Sunday (October 8), James took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to show his support for his friend and business partner.

"I hope everyone watches 60 Minutes tonight to see the story about my brother Rich Paul and his new book “Lucky Me.” Rich changed the game and now he’s giving everyone an education about who we are and where we come from," LeBron posted. "The Midwest in the 90’s had so much impact on our culture. Incredibly proud of my brother giving us such an important story.”

While many have argued that Paul would not have become one of the most powerful agents in all sports without his relationship with James, during the interview, he spoke about how he put in the work and earned all the success he achieved.

"I had it worse than a lot of people, but I evolved, I matured, I transitioned," Paul said. "It feels earned, you know? It wasn't given, for sure. It was earned, which is good. I like that."