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Headline Recruiting Sports Agents

Basketball Agents Share Stories About Recruiting College Players

James Harden signed with the same agent as Kobe Bryant (Rob Pelinka) after hearing good things about him from Kobe. Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE
James Harden signed with the same agent as Kobe Bryant (Rob Pelinka) after hearing good things about him from Kobe. Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

It is just about the heart of signing season for basketball agents looking to represent players leaving their respective universities.  Minus those players on teams slated to play in the Final Four, all players who are fully committed to playing at the next level and understand that signing with an agent will force them to leave behind their student-athlete eligibility are going through the agent selection process and have, or will soon be, executing the paperwork that will secure them representation.

Paul Wachter of Businessweek put together a story (more of a graphic with quotes) on how college players get linked up with agents.  Happy Walters, Jeff Brodie and Mike Silverman were interviewed for the piece.  Walters represents Amar’e Stoudemire, Iman Shumpert and Moe Harkless, and is the leader of Relativity Sports.  Silverman represents Quincy Acy.  I did not even know Jeff Brodie was a basketball agent; however, this profile page says he is certified with the NBPA.

I thought that the best blurb from Wachter’s piece was the section titled, “Have Big-Time Clients Call Him.”

When Houston Rockets All-Star James Harden played at Arizona State, he’d get calls from NBA superstar Kobe Bryant.  “Kobe would call and say, ‘I like your game fella,’ and Harden’s face would light up,” recalls a former classmate.  In 2009, Harden signed with Rob Pelinka, Bryant’s agent.  “It’s a small world,” says sports marketer Sonny Vaccaro.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.