Elsa/Getty ImagesThe New York Knicks and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul had a meeting Friday where “things were hashed out,” according to the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy.
The team and agent will now focus on “moving forward,” Bondy wrote.
Stefan Bondy @SbondyNBAWith the Knicks-Klutch impasse as the backdrop – which we’ve reported on previously — the team and Rich Paul met today and “things were hashed out,” a source told The Post. Focus now moving forward with better relationship.
Bondy previously reported that Paul’s agency “has made it clear it’d prefer not to do business with the Knicks front office,” but that Paul “would consider changing his posture if a meeting were coordinated and his issues were addressed.”
Because Klutch Sports’ clients include potential trade targets such as the Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine and Atlanta Hawks’ Dejounte Murray, the Knicks’ moves ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline have so far been limited, according to Bondy.
Forbes reported in 2022 that Paul represented 37 clients with contracts worth a total of $1.4 billion, including LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
Bondy wrote for the New York Daily News in June 2023 that Paul’s disinterest in working with the Knicks would make a potential trade for LaVine difficult.
Marc Berman, formerly of the New York Post backed Bondy’s report, writing that Paul had “told confidants for over a year he prefers not to have a client play for Knicks.”
Paul represented Cam Reddish while he played for the Knicks between January 2022 and February 2023. By the end of his tenure in New York, Reddish was dropped entirely from the Knicks’ rotation.
“It was tough but at the same time, it ain’t even about basketball,” Reddish told Bondy at the Daily News in March 2023. “It had nothing to do with basketball. It was all the politics, all the favoritism. S–t like that. That’s why I wasn’t too worried about it.”
According to Bondy and Berman, the Knicks also have a reputation of prioritizing clients from Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Knicks president Leon Rose worked at CAA before joining the team.
Paul worked under Rose at CAA before founding Klutch Sports and taking James, Rose’s star client, with him. He later criticized his experience working at CAA, where he said he “didn’t learn.”
The Knicks are 15-2 since the addition of former Toronto Raptor OG Anunoby. Now they could be looking to bolster a potentially postseason-contending roster with another player, such as a Klutch Sports client like Murray, who could provide a backcourt boost alongside All-Star Jalen Brunson.
Source : Bleacher Report