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Several years ago, a shooting guard who went in the first round took money from every agent that offered it, and then ultimately decided to be represented by a family friend whom he'd known for years. In other words, he never truly considered the other agents, he was just playing them for the cash. Each agent thought they were the only one making payments to this player and felt confident they would sign him. When he hired the family friend, all of the agents were furious, but there wasn't much they could do.
The crazy stories
"I had a client who was at a strip club and a stripper got his phone and proceeded to post some pictures on social media and then locked him out of all his accounts," one agent said. "I was literally on the phone with people from the various social media platforms. Thank God they're based on the West Coast so it was only 10 p.m. there, because it was 1 a.m. where we were on the East Coast. I had them deactivate the accounts and then go through the backend to change the passwords."
One agent had a client who wanted to try modeling. The player isn't a household name, but the agent still managed to set up a photo-shoot and hire one of the top photographers in the country because he was a fan of the player's team. The photographer also invited some celebrities to take part in the shoot alongside the player. It seemed as though everything had come together perfectly and the player was poised to make his modeling debut. On the day of the shoot, a driver in a Mercedes arrived to pick up the player. However, there was a problem: The player didn't want to leave his house on this particular day because he was worried that he'd be served child-support papers. After an hour and a half, the player eventually emerged from his house and went to the photo-shoot. The photographer and celebrities were extremely irritated that they had to wait so long for this player to show up. Needless to say, the player's modeling career didn't take off.
Crazy DADS
"This year, I pursued a player who I really like and I was warned about his dad by the college coaches and by another person outside of the program," another agent said. "And, by the way, I'm not talking about Lonzo Ball and LaVar Ball. Anyway, I really liked the kid as a player and I figured I could manage the dad. Well, I was flat-out wrong. The dad had all of these insane thoughts about his son. I like the kid, but he is a borderline NBA player at best. The fact that his dad is nuts and causes problems could legitimately keep this kid out of the NBA. The college coaches had so many problems with the dad that NBA teams who are calling to ask about the kid are getting bad feedback about the dad. Someone like Lonzo Ball is going to be fine because he's so talented. Teams will put up with LaVar because Lonzo could be a star. But, if you're a fringe NBA player like this kid and his dad is causing a bunch of problems? That's not good. That can be the difference between playing in the NBA and playing overseas."
Players getting paid
One of the worst kept secrets in the basketball world is that many agents pay players (or someone close to them). Every agent that HoopsHype interviewed acknowledged that this occurs.
"I'd say the vast majority of players who are in the draft conversation are taking money from agents, sometimes while they're still in school," one agent said. "I'd say somewhere between 75 percent and 90 percent of players get paid. Sometimes, it's the player taking money. Sometimes, it's a family member and, in those cases, it may be unbeknownst to the player. Certain agents have a reputation for paying players or their relatives while they're still in school."
"Of the 30 picks in the first round, I've always assumed that about 28 of them are taking money," another agent added. "I always made that assumption and if I found that wasn't true in a particular year, that was a pleasant surprise."
"In college, I remember thinking that you had to be a lawyer to be an agent and that it was so hard to become one," one agency staffer said. "But I've learned that you definitely don't have to be a lawyer. Look at Worldwide Wes; he went to college for one year. He doesn't have a college degree – much less a law degree – but he's successful because he's street smart, savvy and he knows how to talk to players. Relationships are paramount."
An NBA player faces a multitude of threats to their career and financial security, and their agent does their best to protect them. That means helping them make important decisions, removing negative influences from their life and setting them up with a long-term plan for success.
And sometimes that means scrubbing a player's Twitter and Instagram accounts of inappropriate pictures posted by a stripper who hacked into their phone. All in a day's work for an agent.
I'm told the kid with the crazy Dad is Duke's Frank Jackson.