Knicks president Leon Rose and Klutch Sports Group founder Rich Paul had a positive meeting in New York City on Friday where they discussed issues that hindered relations between Klutch and the Knicks, league sources said.
“What needed to be addressed was addressed,” a source told SNY, and after the meeting, both Rose and Paul “look forward to what a new relationship can be” in the future.
The meeting, which was first reported by the New York Post, is a potentially significant development.
Before the sit-down, Paul had been reluctant to do business with the Knicks, who are obviously led by Rose and executive vice president William Wesley.
Rose was a top agent at CAA before he took over the Knicks and Wesley was a consultant for the agency before he joined Rose in New York.
Before meeting with Rose on Friday, Paul had met with Wesley to discuss issues between them and the Knicks.
Now that the Klutch-Knicks Cold War has come to a close, New York can again be viewed as a potential destination for Klutch clients.
The agency has some of the league’s top players, including LeBron James, Anthony Davis, De’Aaron Fox and Trae Young. Klutch also represents players who have been available in trade talks, including Jordan Clarkson, Malcolm Brogdon, and Dejounte Murray.
A logical question here is: 'How could Klutch have stopped a franchise from trading its player to New York?'
The answer: An agent can’t stop a team from sending a player to a specific franchise, but the NBA is a relationship business, so a franchise would have almost assuredly worked closely with a top agency like Klutch to find a suitable destination for a player they are moving.
That's often how things work in the NBA, and after Friday’s sit-down between Paul and Rose, that hurdle no longer exists.
(As an aside: if a Klutch player had wanted to play in New York before Friday’s meeting between Paul and Rose, Paul and the agency wouldn’t have gotten in the way; they would have facilitated the deal, as noted in this article.)