Rich Paul is one of the best agents in the entire NBA and his client list is beyond impressive. Klutch Sports has grown into one of the biggest entities in the sports agency world and fans have certainly taken notice. Over the years, there have been rumors concerning Klutch’s influence over the sport, although Paul has made sure to note that he does everything the right way, and that he is simply looking into the best interests of his clients.
Despite being one of the most well-known agents out there, Paul has noted that there have been issues trying to attract white clients. Paul claims that white American athletes have a bit of a bias when it comes to who represents them. As it stands, Paul has one white client in Jusuf Nurkic, although as Paul noted, Nurkic is European and simply has a different mindset.
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“It’s very difficult for me to represent a white player,” Paul said. “It just is. Look around. There’s very few. I represent a player from Bosnia. But, again, he’s international. He looks at it different.” Paul then went on to say that some players just don’t want a black agent, even though they would never actually allude to that kind of bias. “They’ll never say that,” he said. “But they don’t. I think there’s always going to be that cloud over America.”
American sports have suffered from diversity issues when it comes to both team executives and agents over the years. While Paul is a case of someone who has been able to overcome and be successful, there is no denying that biases still exist and that it could take quite sometime before attitudes change.
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