Last week, the NCAA issued a memo to agents outlining new certification requirements that included a bachelor’s degree, NBPA certification for at least three consecutive years, professional liability insurance and completion of an in-person exam at the NCAA office in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The NCAA’s new requirements were heavily criticized because some existing NBA agents did not attend college, namely Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group — the longtime friend and agent of LeBron James who has methodically acquired new NBA talent to his client list, thereby, increasing power and leverage in the worlds of basketball and big money.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green parted ways earlier this year with longtime agent B.J. Armstrong of Wasserman and signed with Klutch.
The NCAA’s bachelor’s degree requirement, which the body has since reversed amid backlash, led many to refer to it as the “Rich Paul Rule.”
Forcing the NCAA’s hand to reverse the rule were social media comments from James and other NBA players. Additionally, Paul addressed the issue in an op-ed published in The Athletic NBA in which he identified as problematic the systematic disenfranchisement from opportunity those who cannot afford to attend college experience.
To say that the NCAA has beef with LeBron James, Rich Paul and Maverick Carter, the King’s longtime business partner, would be a vast understatement. Carter and James are the masterminds behind SpringHill Entertainment which, in 2018, produced “Student Athlete” — a riveting, if not groundbreaking documentary released by HBO that flips the NCAA on its back and dissects its underbelly.
The film is a damning examination of an organization founded on institutionalized exploitation, much like the United States of America, with “Student Athlete” telling the stories of black male athletes who found themselves bewildered by the NCAA machine or casualties of its scheme promoting unpaid labor as virtue.
It makes sense that the NCAA would try to curtail the influence of Paul and those who might come after him.
An organization drowning in billions amassed from unpaid labor — which pays coaches millions per year while the so-called student athletes and their families live in poverty — naturally would feel threatened by black men with enough money and power to take on the system that historically enriches some (those in leadership positions at colleges and universities, mostly white) at the expense of others (those putting their bodies on the line, primarily black and brown).
Carter explained his goals for the documentary:
I would love to see this film play a meaningful part in forcing an overhaul of the NCAA. I hope our documentary ignites a conversation with those who can actually change the system. More immediately, I hope we reach a lot of the young athletes working so hard for the NCAA machine.
Warriors superstar Stephen Curry came from an affluent family and lived in a two-parent home. Granted, his father, Dell Curry, was frequently away from home for his own NBA basketball career, but the Curry clan seems as close-knit and any, with all efforts made to keep Dell present for the children when they were young, even when he was playing away games.
Such an upbringing is not common for many in this society, however, especially for people of color, with African Americans experiencing disproportionate rates of poverty, single-parent upbringings and exposure to violence.
Curry’s teammate, Green, was raised by a single mother, Mary Babers-Green, before she remarried. The Warriors star grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, reported by SFGate.com’s Katie Dowd as one of the most violent cities in the country. But Green’s mother reportedly kept her son on track whenever he strayed from the path of his NBA dreams.
Father-son vs. master-slave
James was raised in the ever-rougher conditions of Akron, Ohio — the place of Stephen Curry’s birth (but not rearing) — by a single mother who had him as a teen. James’ coaches became father figures to him, a common dynamic between athletes and sometimes the only adult men in their lives. But the other persistent dynamic, exemplified by the NCAA’s structure of wealthy white coaches overseeing often poor black athletes, is one of master-slave.
While these dynamics between athletes and their coaches and/or agents can mold them in positive ways when they’re younger, as these young men age into fully autonomous men, these relationships can grow toxic through exploitation or infantilization, with the NCAA’s power structure fostering relationships in these dynamics.
Green has not spoken about his reasons for parting ways with former agent B.J. Armstrong to sign with Paul and Klutch Sports, but Armstrong has. And if his public comments are indicative of the relationship he maintained with Green, the former Defensive Player of the Year’s reasons for making a change might become clear.
In an interview on The Pure Hoops Podcast in February, Armstrong — who has known Green since the would-be superstar was in high school — called Green’s decision “the nature of the beast” and said that the two are still good friends, per Drew Shiller of NBC Sports.
But he also referred to Green several times in the interview as “kid,” suggesting that Green’s relationship with Armstrong may have been of the father-son variety.
In part, Armstrong stated:
You’re gonna have kids who change representation or what have you. That’s just the nature of the business. You understand that part of the business.
You’re dealing with young people and they do that. The relationships that you have with people, you cherish those moments. But you understand that this is a very volatile business. No doubt about it. Players are gonna change. Some are gonna change to you, some are gonna leave.
Draymond Green is the father of two children. At this time next year, he will be 30 years old. He made it a point last season to reckon with the parts of himself that do not serve him or the Warriors. He has, in essence, grown up.
If Armstrong could not accept his growth, it makes sense that Green would move on to someone he felt could accept him as the man he is and trying to become.
