Klutch Sports' Rich Paul to Lead Sports Division at United Talent Agency

LeBron James's agent will lead the new sports division at the top entertainment company.

NBA agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group will lead United Talent Agency's new sports division, Klutch Sports announced on Wednesday.

Marc Stein of The New York Timesreports Klutch Sports will keep its own branding in its new partnership with United Talent.

Paul, 37, represents superstars across the NBA including LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green and Ben Simmons. He left Creative Artists Agency in 2012 to start Klutch Sports Group. James was his first client.

Sports Illustrated featured Paul in a June cover story and detailed his rise as a top agent, including the start of his friendship with James in 2002 and his demand last season for the Pelicans to trade Davis.

United Talent Agency already represents some of the biggest names in Hollywood like Angelina Jolie and Kevin Hart and will now expand its reach to athletes under Paul.

"We’ve been looking for the right sports opportunity for quite a while," Jeremy Zimmer, United Talent's chief executive, told the Times. "We have taken a significant stake in Klutch, but Rich retains very substantial controls because we want it to be his business and we love what he’s doing."

Neither Paul nor United Talent shared the amount of the stake with the Times.

Zimmer felt it was time for United Talent to represents athletes considering their influence off the court in areas like music and fashion.

"All these things have a connectivity and a power in the culture today like we’ve never seen before," he said. "And so, for U.T.A. to be a fully built media company, we had to be directly connected to the athlete—not just through sponsorships and endorsements but directly to them in every aspect of their life in a real way."