New York Knicks center Nerlens Noel has filed a lawsuit against NBA agent Rich Paul and his agency Klutch Sports Group for approximately $58 million in potential lost earnings, according to a court filing received by Sports Agent Blog.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Dallas County District Court, alleges Paul doing “little to no work,” on Noel’s behalf as his agent. This includes pitching teams his client, securing contracts and endorsement deals for Noel.
Paul allegedly persuaded Noel to turn down a four-year, $70 million contract from the Dallas Mavericks after the 2016-2017 season, according to the complaint. Noel went on to sign a series of league minimum and qualifying contracts, all under the advice of Paul up until their professional relationship ended in December 2020.
Where Nerlens Noel and Rich Paul Began
Dallas offered the contract to Noel while he was still represented by previous agent Happy Walters. Noel claims Paul, whom he met at Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons’ birthday party, encouraged him to leave Walters and to join Klutch Sports Group. Paul assured Noel he could secure him a max contract the following off-season.
Noel took the advice and accepted a one-year, $4.1 million deal from Dallas. He only appeared in 30 games that year after having surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb. It’s in this timeframe Noel claims Paul started to, “lose interest in Noel as a client.”
Photo taken by Carlos Osorio, AP
Unreturned Calls
The complaint also accuses Paul of undermining Noel’s communication with other teams.
The Philadelphia 76ers expressed interest in Noel as a player during the 2018-2019 offseason but never received any callbacks from Paul. The same thing happened again the next offseason.
“Noel later learned that representatives from the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers were trying to contact Paul, but that Paul was not taking or returning those calls,” the lawsuit states.
Paul and Klutch Sports Group are known for their marquee clientele. Paul’s long-time friendship with forward LeBron James has been well-documented throughout the years. He also represents other notable NBA talents such as Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, Ben Simmons and Trae Young.
The lawsuit states, “The belief was that Paul and Klutch Sports were only focused on serving their ‘marquee’ clients and did not have the capacity to provide competent service to other clients such as Noel, or players like Norris Cole or Shabazz Muhammad, as additional examples.”
Noel dropped Paul after learning of the alleged mismanagement. He went on to sign a three-year, $32 million deal with the Knicks earlier this month.
The story is still developing.
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