My alma mater, the University of Florida, has had a good number of strong basketball players come through campus in the past decade, which is quite an accomplishment for the institution, considering it has never really been known as a basketball powerhouse. Two national championships and an Elite Eight run in 2011 definitely helps build the basketball program’s reputation.
This year, many agents had their eyes on two players who were certain to be leaving Gainesville to hopefully go play in the NBA: Chandler Parsons and Vernon Macklin. Macklin has not yet chosen his agent. Yesterday, Parson’s chose his. Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports is in charge of making sure that Parsons trains hard up until Draft Day and puts himself in the best position to be as high of a draft pick as possible.
Priority Sports has been interested in Parsons for a very long time, but so have a few other agencies. Wasserman Media Group, Lagardere Unlimited, and ASM Sports were all pitching the former Gator. For a long time, rumor had it that Parsons was choosing between Lagardere Unlimited and Priority Sports, but just yesterday, I heard that Justin Zanik of ASM Sports (the company that also represents Taurean Green and Marreese Speights) might have been the man in 2nd place. Either way, the only thing that matters is that Parsons is now a Priority Sports client, and I have no doubt that he will be represented well by Mark Bartelstein and his team of agents.
Priority emerged from the pack based on the company’s close relationship with Coach Billy Donovan, representation of former Gator David Lee, and the amount of attention Parsons received from various people at Priority over the years.
