Entrepreneurs and Pirates: NBA Agents Lament State of Industry

by Sam Amick

Filed under: Kings, Sports Business and Media

In the New Jersey office of longtime NBA agent Keith Glass, there is a sign that says everything about the dog-eat-dog world in which he works.

Keith Glass

"It's from Mark Twain, and it (reads), 'I'll always do right, which will surprise some people and astonish the rest,' " Glass said, "It's as simple as that."

If only he were right.

The agent business has never been a simple one, and some of the league's longest-tenured professionals say it has become increasingly more complicated in recent years.

And even dirtier than usual.

Agents are stealing clients in the boldest of ways, looking for a weakness in the business relationship between a player and his representative and using any means necessary to exploit it. Some players and their family members or friends aren't any better, pressuring agents to bend -- no, make that break -- the rules and take their operation under the table if they hope to be the chosen representative. The only law enforcement in this Wild West city is the players' union, which certainly has regulations in place but has had neither the time nor the resources to enforce them.

 

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