Global 2012: LeBron James switches agents

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 29: LeBron James #6 and Chris Paul #13 of the United States look on while taking on France in the Men's Basketball Game on Day 2 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Basketball Arena on July 29, 2012 in London, England. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
LeBron James has parted ways with agent Leon Rose of Creative Artists Agency and will now be represented by his longtime friend, Rich Paul, who also has left CAA to start his own company: Klutch Sports Management, sources told Yahoo! Sports. James made the move official when he filed paperwork with the NBA Players' Association Wednesday afternoon.

Paul will be James' third representative since James entered the league in 2003 as a client of Aaron Goodwin.

Paul began working for CAA in 2008. Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson and San Antonio Spurs guard Cory Joseph are among his clients, along with Charlotte Bobcats rookie forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who is jointly managed by Paul and Rose. Paul is working to soon become officially certified as an agent. His new agency will be based in his hometown of Cleveland, where James played for the Cavaliers from 2003-2010.

James left CAA and Rose amicably and wants to give Paul an opportunity to represent him after he gained needed experience, sources said.

Clippers guard Chris Paul is still represented by CAA, but is close with James and Rich Paul. Chris Paul will likely be a free agent next summer. Other NBA standouts represented by CAA include Heat guard Dwyane Wade, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, Heat forward Chris Bosh and San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker.

James, Paul, Maverick Carter and Randy Mims are childhood friends who have long called themselves "The Four Horsemen." After James fired Goodwin and joined CAA, they started a management group called LRMR, which heads James' sports portfolio and is led by Carter.

Rose primarily managed James' playing contract which still has $73.9 million over four years remaining but also has player opt-outs in 2014 and 2015. Seven years after LRMR's formation, James now ranks fourth on Forbes' list of richest athletes after making $53 million from June 2011 to June 2012.

"Being young and black and going into a business where you are trying to establish position and where you are able to make business decisions with the lack of what people would call an education, not having a degree … no one wanted to give us a chance," Rich Paul told Yahoo! Sports in June. "We were able to come through that and learn from a lot of people that we had around us and position ourselves to be, not necessarily just successful economically, but successful from a positioning standpoint to have a bright future.

"It was a rough situation. But given the opportunity [James] gave all of us, it's a blessing. It was up to us to cultivate that blessing and move forward."

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--lebron-james-switches-agents--childhood-friend-will-represent-him.html 

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Global 2012: Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen... Dream Team?

Biography of a model. Gisele Bündchen (Photo credit: BarbieFantasies)In case you don't already know, LeBron James is basketball right now. He's the man up, as they say, and in his case, he goes up and up and up. King James (or the Chosen One), as they call him, became Rookie of the Year in 2004, then led his Cleveland Cavaliers to back-to-back playoff runs in 2006 and 2007, and the team's first-ever finals appearance in 2007. Last season, he averaged 27 points per game. Do you remember Michael Jordan? Well, LeBron is Michael Jordan, on a bigger scale (as in, bigger guy). What he lacks in pure Jordanian grace—rather than soar, LeBron seems to descend on the basket—he makes up for with strength and a dazzling sense of symmetry. Proportion is everything when it comes to King James. If you've ever sat in the stands as he brings a crowd to a points-induced frenzy, you know that for LeBron the crossover—that dexterous shift in direction, from one side of the court to the other—happens almost imperceptibly. His overall balance is apparent to his trainers, to his coaches, to sports fans, and, especially, to Rachel Johnson, who pays attention to his body for a living. "In my mind," says Johnson, his stylist, "he's not big at all, because even though he's tall and muscular and gorgeous and all of that, he's very well proportioned—the top half of his body and the bottom half match. To me, I'm dressing a man who's five feet eleven."

At 250 pounds, he is a towering six feet eight, but when not in the heat of competition, he somehow manages not to tower—so says Gisele Bündchen, the LeBron James of fashion modeling. "He doesn't really make you feel small, even though he is big," says Gisele, who, although she'd seen him play, and although her boyfriend, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, is a friend of his, had never met LeBron. "I think my leg is like the size of his shoe," she adds. Aside from a few shared attitudes—"She's all about business, and she's all about fun," LeBron says about Gisele. "That's why she's the best; she has fun while she's doing it"—they both admit that high school sports made them who they are. "What sports teaches you is not only respect for your body but that you have to be aware of your body, that you have to work with other people," says Gisele, who as a girl was an ardent volleyball player. "If you feel good, you play better, and if you feel better your self-worth will increase every day."

During a recent practice, LeBron looks and feels good, and in one of dozens of shooting drills, all goes well as he sinks ball after ball. And then—a bad shot, a little off. As the next ball reaches his hand, he pauses, just for a millisecond, as if hitting the reboot button. Next shot, and all the ones following—dead on. "It's all about refocusing yourself," he explains. "For me, it's such a habit, and I know what I'm doing out on the basketball court, so if I do something wrong, then I know how to switch the switch and turn it right back on, to readjust myself. Right there and then. It doesn't take me a day. It takes me just"—he snaps his fingers—"one play."

http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/lebron-james-and-gisele-b252ndchen-dream-team/?mbid=ob_ppc_mag_14#1

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