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District Court Judge Jane J. Boyle reports
Sports Business Journal’s Liz Mullen Dismissed a $58 million lawsuit by Nerlens Noel against his former agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports. :
Liz Mullen@SBJLizMullen A judge dismissed Nerlens Noel’s $58 million lawsuit last year against former agent Rich Paul.
Judge submits dispute to NBPA arbitration pic.twitter.com/itfk01ZQ4y
The Detroit Pistons center filed a lawsuit in November 2021 alleging that Paul was pursuing a market-value contract, endorsement deals and other financial considerations for Knoll Aspects “hardly did any work”.
While the case was dismissed, Judge Boyle did recommend that the situation be resolved within the NBPA’s arbitration system. She noted, “Each claim boils down to Noel’s general complaint that Paul and [Klutch] breached an obligation or obligation to Noel as a result of the player-agent relationship established by the SPAC [Standard Player Agent Contract].”
and the SPAC states that “any and all disputes between the player and the agent concerning the meaning, interpretation, application or enforcement of this agreement or Obligations under the Agreement shall be resolved solely through arbitration procedures set forth in Section 5 of the NBPA Players’ Agents Regulations.”
Noel in his The lawsuit said he turned down a four-year, $70 million contract extension from the Dallas Mavericks in 2017 at the request of Paul, who was recruiting him to be represented by Klutch Sports.
At the time, Noel was represented by Happy Walters.
” Paul told Noel that if he terminated his relationship with Mr. Walters and signed with him, Paul would offer him a “max deal.” As part of that, Paul advised Noel to stop negotiations with Dallas, accept a one-year qualifying offer and seek a max salary in free agency next season,” the lawsuit states.
But instead of a max contract, Noel signed a one-year, value-priced deal with the Mavericks in August 2017. Qualifying offer of $4.1 million.
In 2018, he signed a two-year, $3.75 million contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, That included a second-year player option, but he declined a -20 season until 2019. Instead, he signed a one-year, $1.9 million contract to return to Oklahoma City.
Prior to the 2020-21 season, he signed a one-year, one-year contract with the New York Knicks $5 million contract and a three-year, $27 million extension with New York the following offseason. The Knicks traded him to Detroit in July.
In that series of one-year deals, Noel accused Paul in the lawsuit of not answering some people’s calls to sign The next teams he has shown interest in include the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 and the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers in 2020.
After Noel turned down a $70 million extension from the Mavericks for four seasons, he earned $12.7 million for a total loss of $57.3 million. Therefore, according to The Athletic, he is seeking $58 million in damages, as well as “declarative judgment and monetary damages from Paul and Klutch Sports, the amount to be proven at trial”.
