Rich Paul (born December 16, 1981) is an American sports agent based in Cleveland, Ohio. He founded Klutch Sports Group which represents a number of prominent NBA players. Paul was named by Forbes as one of the world's most powerful sports agents. Early life Paul grew up in a one-bedroom apartment above his father's store, R & J Confectionery, on East 125th and Arlington in Glenville, a neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland. His father enrolled him in the private, fee-paying Benedictine, a Roman Catholic high school. His father died of cancer in 1999. After graduating from high school, Paul was mentored by Distant Replays owner Andy Hyman on selling vintage jerseys. He would buy throwback jerseys from Atlanta and sell them out of his trunk in Cleveland. In 2002, he met LeBron James at the Akron–Canton Airport, where James was impressed by Paul's authentic Warren Moon throwback jersey. The two exchanged contact information, and soon Paul had sold James a Magic Johnson Lakers jersey and a Joe Namath Rams jersey. Career In 2003, after the NBA draft, Paul joined James as a part of his small inner circle, along with James' childhood friends Maverick Carter and Randy Mims. He would later start working under Leon Rose, who had negotiated James' extension with the Cavaliers in 2006, at Creative Artists Agency. In 2012, Paul, along with James, left Rose and CAA to start his own agency, Klutch Sports Group. In 2013, Paul enlisted noted long-time agent and attorney Mark Termini to run the NBA contract negotiations for Klutch. By the conclusion of Termini's tenure at Klutch in 2020, Klutch Sports had a roster of 25 clients, and Termini had led negotiations on over $1 billion worth of NBA contracts for said clients. Later that year, United Talent Agency (UTA) made a strategic investment in Klutch Sports Group and asked Paul to run its sports division where he expanded the division's clients from 4 to 23. In 2020, he accepted a position on UTA's board of directors. Before the start of the 2017–18 season, Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver had told Paul that if he did not sever ties to head coach Earl Watson, who had Paul and the Klutch Sports Group as an agent at the time, he would fire Watson from the team. After the Suns got off to a 0–3 start, with two blowout losses (including the