BBV didn't like this, maybe this is a better forum? If not, lock, ban op, tc.

Background:
Went to law school in the northeast, interned at a large sports agency with various offices across the country, and then began working for a smaller agency. Deal primarily in basketball, but have seen some of the other sports as well.

Ask away.

Edit: In before McGuire is spelled wrong.

are you a lawyer?

scott boras or drew rosenhaus and why.

(boras is the correct answer by the way)

any amusing stories? dirt on famous ppl? holla

you should become labrons agent and then collect FREE MONEY

What's your real username.

What do you do, what is your title, day in the life, talk about signing players and is it shady with hookers and blow, do agents poach, how do you make money with compensation capped at 2 percent of less?

Have you ever met Harry Redknapp?

Yes, member of two state bars.

Arn Tellem, I'm a basketball guy. Why settle for elite clients in one sport when you can have it in two?

No real dirt on famous people. It is funny to hear of a lottery pick two years ago signing with an agent because they gave his brother a publishing deal, which will likely never see the light of day. The things people will do for a an overrated freshman.

The other side of that is another draft eligible guy from within the last two years being threatened by a "runner" for an agent he allegedly took money from in college and being told, "If you don't sign, or give it back, you'll never walk, let alone play in the NBA." He signed, but I think has since moved to another agency.


Not 100% sure, I'd guess that LeBron pays 0% on his NBA playing contract. The vast majority of marketing money goes through his marketing company, LRMR. Real value in repping him is getting a guy like Jonny Flynn, unless he's, you know, Jonny Flynn.

Sorry for the serious answer to an obvious joke question.



I write or edit all of our international contracts, which is the majority of our business. I research player comps and salary cap situations for our NBA players who are coming up on extensions. I plan and oversee the recruiting trips our agents take, and give scouting reports based on video/statistics. I do not have a background in playing, but everyone else in the company does, so I'm the "stats" guy, which I'm not even very good at. I also do some of the bitch work, like driving players around, taking trading cards to them to get signed, etc.

Signing players is very much a case by case thing. Some of them will have been getting money since high school (half?) and others really will not have any idea what they're doing until after their college career (10%, Lin and Jimmy Butler jump to mind recently). The rest, about half, are recruited throughout the season by a ton of agents. You go to games, talk with the kid, coaches, friends, parents, etc. and try and get a meeting at the end of the year. Most guys meet with 3-5 agents, some will meet with 20 which is ridiculous and unneeded.

Money isn't as prevalent outside of the definite NBA guys, and the amounts are completely arbitrary because those "running" the situation have no idea what they can ask for. Signing a guy for money works for some people, but a lot of times, the player will pay back the money and leave once they start getting paid because they don't want to feel obligated/owned. (racist ban).

Agents absolutely poach, but it is rarely enforced. Check out Andy Miller's story, that's some good poaching. Now it seems more and more guys are jumping ship to big agencies, and it isn't the agents poaching, but their clients recruiting on their behalf. I do not mean this as an allegation, but more that players are friends, so naturally they will talk about their agents and how much they help/don't help.

International compensation = 10% paid by the team. It is usually split with an international partner, but you can do deals for the top guys direct with the teams. We have some clients that make more than a million dollars overseas, pretty good commission.

NBA compensation is capped at 2% only on minimum contracts. It skyrockets to 4% of any amount over the minimum. For a first round pick, it is capped at 4% of 80% of the slotted number. So if you have a first round pick who has a $1M slotted salary as a rookie, and they sign for the typical 120%, you'll make 4% of $400,000 or $16,000. The real money comes when they sign their extensions. Typically guys will negotiate a reduced rookie rate (0% if 1st round is very common) and extension rate (completely depends on player).

What was it like winning the main event?

Sorry, missed this part. I am in the office by 8 AM, typically on Skype with international partners about players performance, new openings, etc. throughout the day. Take a lot of calls from our agents who are on the road, anything from, "How did XXXX play last night?" to "Why the **** am I flying so early when I could have stayed an extra day to see XXXXX?" In my free time I'm working on the databases we maintain about player performance, contacts, and player preferences.

The rest is kind of hit or miss. Some days I'll have time to really watch some college games, other days I won't. I'll write demand letters for payment of agent fee or salary or whatever ahead of time because international teams are notoriously bad about paying on time. I'll try and go to a game or two a week.

Nope, fraud sucks though.

Second most thrilling event in my life besides answering this question.

How much do the actual players themselves get involved with contract talks? Also what's the worst thing you have ever seen or heard an agent do?

best way to get into your industry?

how has the role of an agent changed in the last 10-15 years? how has compensation changed? what's the biggest fear for your industry in the future? any stories of a player getting jobbed by an org.? vice versa? what law school?

How much money do you make per hour?

how often do u yell out "show me the money" while praying to god/jesus?

Could you review a 2-time award winning screenplay for me?

If you were to rank the 32 NFL teams, would you have the Chargers at 1. or 1a.?

fyp

could 10 thousand 8 year olds take a silverback gorilla?

Was at the Knicks vs. Cavs tonight. Linsanity is more impressive in person.

It depends on the player. Our agency will sit a player down and try and get the clients to rank their interests/wants. For some players it will be playing time, for others it will just be money. We try and help the players recognized the need for some balance there.

Once we have that ranking, we'll see what teams are interested, what each can do under the cap, and evaluate offers. Just like any negotiation, certain teams/GMs have different tendencies. Working for an established agent, he knows typically who is full of **** and who isn't. Once we get an offer, we will take it to the client to accept, reject, and give our opinion on, much like legal counsel in a settlement negotiation.

Worst thing I've heard of an agent doing is threatening a player with physical force if they don't sign.

Networking. I think a law or some advanced degree is helpful. Find a niche in the industry that you can/want to fill. Everyone wants to sign a lottery pick, but if you think you can run the Sun-Belt Conference, someone will see that as having value.

Don't over promise when you're getting into the business, it only leads to messy splits.

I haven't been in the business 10-15 years, so not really fair for me to say. From talking to others in the industry, competition has gotten stiffer (pause), kids are listening to the wrong people more and more, coaches are less and less involved, and larger agencies are really dominating. I can go into more specifics, but as far as "big" shifts, I think this covers it (for basketball).

I know the compensation in the old NBA CBA (prior to 1999) was different, but I am only familiar with the current CBA for the most part.

I'd think the biggest fear for the industry is the death of smaller/boutique agencies. A nightmare scenario would be CAA, Wasserman, Priority, Excel, BDA, and ASM each representing equal shares of the NBA. I think this is extreme, and do believe that there will always be room for an independent, just because some players still care about getting personal attention. Not to mention the potential conflicts of interest, which would also prevent this from happening to an extreme degree.

As far as a player jobbing an agent? I know of agents who gave $25k+ to family of a player and didn't sign him. I know of international agents negotiating buyouts, and not disclosing the full amount to take more money that would otherwise have gone to the player. Not sure if that's the stuff you're talking about.

Not going to disclose law school because it would be very easy to find out who I am if I did.

Do not want to compute, at all. I am salaried, I work pretty long hours, and it is far less than I'd be making practicing law.

Not often enough.

Sure, not sure how working for an NBA agent would help though.

1m.

Not a chance.