While most of the world was taking a break from work leading up to Christmas, Sacramento Kings big man, DeMarcus Cousins, was busy making a change in representation. After learning of a suspension for cursing out his head coach, Cousins decided to depart from his agent, John Greig, who has represented the former Kentucky Wildcat since he decided to leave for the NBA. Cousins quickly found a new agent – Dan Fegan – who is also the agent of record for Dwight Howard, Stephen Jackson, Kevin Martin, Ricky Rubio and many other prominent basketball players.
While Cousins has had his problems since entering the NBA, Fegan has recently dealt with his fair share of issues as well. The man who represents former #1 overall pick, John Wall, split with mega agency Lagardère Unlimited earlier this year and has not yet latched on with another firm (although there is no reason to believe that Fegan does not wish to remain independent). That said, many in the agent community continue to believe that Fegan will eventually team up with fellow agent Happy Walters at the relatively new Relativity Sports.
Fegan has also had to rebound from a couple of clients abruptly leaving him. Brooklyn Nets power forward Kris Humphries terminated his relationship with Fegan and signed with Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group. Later, Philadelphia 76ers guard Jason Richardson left Fegan and said, “I think a lot of guys feel like there were just left in the dark with a lot of things: him changing agencies, or whatever he did with the change. Just kind of neglect.”
Yet Fegan is still one of the most powerful agents in the NBA (Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY Sports agree). He is known for having the proclivity to get unhappy clients traded from their teams, even if it means that he will take the blame and end up looking like the “bad guy.”
And what about Cousins’ former agent, John Greig? With the loss of Cousins, Greig goes from representing one of, if not the, most talented young big men in the country to having no current NBA players as clients. He does; however, represent some promising athletes overseas. In 2010, when Cousins first chose Greig to be his agent, I wrote the following:
So how do you think Greig signed DeMarcus Cousins? I bet that there will be a lot of big agents talking to Cousins in an attempt to pry him away in the future. Let’s see if Cousins stays loyal to his original selection – I hope he does.
In response to asking Greig for something inspiring for you all, Greig said, “Maybe inspire your readers by telling that perhaps sometimes good guys do finish first !!!”
