Prominent Agent Discerns NIL Complexities of College Football From Basketball

Sports agent Rich Paul breaks down NIL disrupting the college sports landscape and urges players to take a more holistic outlook on their future.

Maddy Hudak | Feb 20, 2025

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Klutch Sports Group, founded by LeBron James and Rich Paul, has made a splash in the NIL landscape with the signing of top college basketball players, including Bronny James, Chris Livingston, Bryce James, and Juju Watkins.

The agency’s shift to entering college sports was one co-founder Paul admittedly struggled with, with name, image, and likeness deals at the forefront.

Paul joined Gilbert Arenas on Gil’s Arena podcast to discuss the NIL complexities he’s had to traverse.

“I struggle with NIL; I’m not going to lie,” Paul said. “It would be different if the kids were getting the money at such a young age and it was going into an experienced infrastructure. It would be a lot. I would think about it a lot differently. I’m not going to hate the game because, again, I kind of disrupted it in a lot of ways with the Darius Bazley million-dollar internship years ago. I get that aspect of it.”

While he accepts the challenges, Paul sees a distinction between college football and basketball with more player movement in the portal.

“I believe from a football perspective, you should be able, or you should, sign multi-year deals with that university,” Paul said. “It puts the university in a very tough spot when you take the money and then you transfer, and it puts the integrity of the game in a very tough spot.”

That doesn’t mean Paul takes any issue with NIL and players being paid, which brings the consequent responsibility they need to be prepared for to play at the next level in the NBA or NFL.

Paul was more critical of college basketball players who chase NIL and a bottom line over anything else and thinks it illuminates a lot about their mentality.

“From a basketball perspective, if you go to a school that's giving you the most money, then what that tells me is that you really feel like you don't need that school,” Paul explained. “Because you're not making a decision based upon who's helping me become or who's helping me take the better steps towards where I'm actually trying to go.”

Like many, Paul warned of predatory situations with NIL representation groups whose main objective is to chase money. It’s tough to imagine many young players having the luxury to turn down immediate life-changing deals that could benefit both themselves and their family.

However, like many business decisions in life, the long term is equally important to consider, and Paul urges players to consider investing in their future over enticing NIL dollar signs upfront.

They discussed Arenas’ son, Alijah, a strong basketball prospect, and how the conversations surrounding his future have focused on his draft projection, currently within the top four.

To Arenas, there’s no money that could change a decision that’s best for his future and would risk altering his stock. He may gain $2 million immediately from one program but could drop to No. 10 as a result.

As Arenas explains, the difference from No. 4 to No. 10 is around $20 million, making that short-term offer not even close to sufficient.

The two acknowledge that while it may not be a realistic situation for every player, it serves as a template for decision-making with a clear vision.

“There’s a world where you can say, okay, yeah, you're offering me more,” Paul explained. “But take some of the money that you offer me and pour that into my development, my plan, your care, right? Because in college, everybody's trying to win that game. Every game is the national championship game. I've been through this. I've seen kids come in the top three and then go undrafted. How does that work? That can't work like that.”

Paul makes an intriguing point that not many have brought up in the discussion of NIL and positioning for the NFL draft: coaches are concerned acutely with winning.

It's evident that all teams, coaches, and players strive for championships, but Paul is urging players to engage in challenging conversations to secure their success.

While NIL deals are at the forefront, individual success shouldn’t be a consequence of choosing the wrong destination for their growth and development.

Recommended Articles