Rich Paul Wants You To Know He Does Not Run The Lakers *Wink Wink*

Was that the least believable denial in the history of denials? I’m leaning towards yes. Listen you can hate Rich Paul and Klutch for a variety of reasons, but there is no denying what they have done to reshape the NBA is truly remarkable. I’m not sure there is a more powerful agent in the league right now. And while he may have been telling the “truth” in regards to the Lakers because it’s clear LeBron is actually the one that runs everything, Rich Paul is pretty high up there. The evidence is everywhere you look. You have Klutch client Kentavious Caldwell-Pope getting that big deal a few years ago, and guess who just found his way back to the Lakers this summer? KCP. LeBron wanted Anthony Davis (Klutch) and what did Rich Paul do? He made sure the Lakers at the time made the largest trade offer in NBA history so that the Pelicans had no choice but to accept it. There are also a couple of additional pieces, whether it’s JR Smith or new UFA Trey Lyles that could very well end up on the Lakers in the next few days. Why do we think that is? Oh right both are Klutch clients. Then there was that whole, trying to get Luke Walton fired thing.

What’s more believable, that Rich Paul and LeBron are calling the shots in LA or Rob Pelinka? This isn’t a knock either, again it’s impressive as hell what they were able to build and how influential they became, but come on we all have brains. We know the deal no matter how many times Rich Paul wants to try and deny it. You think there’s a move that Pelinka wants to make that isn’t run by Rich Paul first? Of course not. So while he may not have the official title of the guy in charge of running the Lakers, he definitely runs the Lakers. I’d imagine it was probably Paul that was influential in AD passing up his trade kicker so that Pelinka wouldn’t look like a dope when it came to that whole cap space situation. Again, it’s pretty obvious who runs shit in LA.

I get where Rich Paul is coming from though. Why limit himself to only running the Lakers when you could just run the entire NBA instead? I mean this is the same guy that had this story written about him by SI earlier this summer

This is just the reality of the NBA in 2019. It’s Rich Paul’s world and we’re all just living in it. But yeah, Rob Pelinka is the one that runs the Lakers. Sure.