Rich Paul

Rich Paul is an American sports agent based in Cleveland, Ohio. He founded Klutch Sports Group and represents a number of prominent NBA players, including Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, Ben Simmons, Anthony Davis, and long-time friend LeBron James.

Early life

Paul used to live in a one-bedroom apartment above his father's store, R & J Confectionary, on 125th and Arlington in Glenville, a neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland. He went to Benedictine, a Roman Catholic high school across the town. His father died of cancer in 1999.^[1]

After graduating high school, Paul was buying throwback jerseys from Atlanta and selling them out of his trunk in Cleveland. In 2002, he met LeBron James at the Akron-Canton Airport, where James was impressed by Paul's authentic Warren Moon throwback jersey. The two exchanged contact information, and soon Paul had sold James a Magic Johnson Lakers jersey and a Joe Namath Rams uniform.^[2]

Career

In 2003, after the NBA draft, LeBron hired Paul to be a part of his small inner-circle. He would later start working under Leon Rose, who had negotiated LeBron's extension with the Cavs in 2006, at Creative Artists Agency. In 2012, Paul left Rose and CAA to start his own agency, Klutch Sports Group, and took LeBron with him.^[3]

References