Have you heard? We are in a golden age of star players having no control over what their agents say. You might not have noticed, but we have arrived.
Rich Paul is free to say whatever he wants on his podcast, and LeBron James, the biggest reason why Rich Paul has a podcast to begin with, can’t do a darn thing about it.
“I think you all know by now, Rich is his own man and what Rich says is not a direct reflection of me and how I feel,” James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin after Paul said the Lakers should trade Austin Reaves for Memphis Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. on his podcast, “Game Over”. “And I hope people know that.”
Well, at least one more person knows that now. Thanks, ‘Bron. You might not have received the memo, but the player empowerment era is over. Welcome to the agent/benefactor empowerment era. Ultimate power now lies with those who take a few percentage points off the top of players’ deals.
You know that saying about needing three examples for something to be worth a story about an emerging trend? We’re up to three, or at least two-and-a-half.
As Giannis Antetokounmpo has lived out Joe Strummer’s eternal question over the last few years, it has apparently been Alex Saratsis, the Milwaukee Bucks star’s agent, acting entirely out of pocket.
“I keep on saying (that) conversations that are happening between other people, third parties, it’s something that I can’t control,” Antetokounmpo told The Athletic’s Sam Amick in the same conversation in which he said he would never ask for a trade out of Milwaukee. “I can’t control what you’re going to say with my agent, or with my best friend, or with my chef. I can only control what comes out of my mouth.”
OK, cool. Power dynamics aren’t dead; they never even existed in the first place. The player whom the Bucks have spent more than a half-decade trying to placate with risky move after risky move cannot stop Saratsis from starting up conversations with Bucks management when it comes to his future with the team. That checks out. No notes.
Let’s give this to Kawhi Leonard, then: He didn’t come out and say all of his negotiating with the LA Clippers — an initial contract signed in 2019 and extensions agreed to in 2021 and 2024 — was solely the work of his uncle Dennis Robertson, with some guidance from Leonard’s certified agent, Mitch Frankel. But the public has certainly treated Leonard lightly in the ongoing Aspiration scandal, which accused the Clippers of facilitating a “no-show” contract for Leonard with the now-bankrupt company, as if he couldn’t have possibly leveraged his basketball brilliance in any untoward way.
We are in beggars belief territory. This is not to say that James thinks a Reaves-Jackson trade should happen, that Antetokounmpo is pulling the strings in Milwaukee or that Leonard told his team to get him some extra money in exchange for doing next to nothing. All humans still have freeish will and can act independently.
The absurdity is in believing that the players could not possibly put their thumbs on the scale and influence how their situations play out. Breaking news: There are fewer people on the planet who are so talented at basketball that they can influence NBA games and seasons than there are people who can negotiate contracts.
Scarcity creates power. Maybe the stars didn’t tell their employees — and that’s what Paul, Saratis, Robertson and Frankel are, more or less — how to act, but they could surely tell them to stop acting in that manner. With the way James and Antetokounmpo have spoken lately, you’d think they’d never dream of asserting that power.
To give James and Antetokounmpo a moment of grace, they are in, what are they supposed to say? territory.
If James were to say: Yeah, Rich said that because it’s what I think. Print it. Might not go over so well with his teammates.
Rich is just making stuff up. I told him to stop and he just won’t listen. He’s getting a talking-to tonight. Might not go over so well with his friend and agent.
If Antetokounmpo were to say: Alex is doing what I’ve directed him to do and providing me public cover. Of course I’m putting pressure on the Bucks to improve the roster or explore trades. Have you seen my team? That might represent a PR hit for Antetokounmpo.
It is also possible that, behind the scenes, the players are exerting their power and telling their agents to please stop speaking for them without permission, if that is indeed what is happening.
It just isn’t especially believable that players of this magnitude can put their hands in the air and claim powerlessness. The most recent collective bargaining agreement might have successfully limited players’ abilities to force a trade to a certain destination or create superteams with their peers. Still, their greatness allows them plenty of latitude and control.
If they are surrendering it, as they would like us to believe, that is a choice, too.