Rich Paul is currently one of the hottest agents in the NBA, especially after facilitating $600,000,000 worth of deals just this summer. However, getting to this stage was very difficult for the super agent. During his recent interview with Shannon Sharpe, Paul revealed his tough life growing up in the neighborhood of Glenville, Cleveland, which greatly moulded his character and raised him to be the man he is today. Owing to the same, Paul had the opportunity to sit at the same table as some of the GOATs of the sports world, like Tom Brady and Michael Jordan.
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Paul recently appeared on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, where he spoke about his growth and exposure as an agent. Speaking to the former Undisputed analyst, Paul revealed some exciting details about his life, which give us greater insight into his growth as one of the biggest agents in the sports marketing industry.
Rich Paul revealed his tough upbringing that moulded his character
Growing up in Glenville, Cleveland, Rich Paul had learned some great lessons in life through the hard way of losing. The neighborhood around Glenville was quite challenging for Paul, which immensely shaped his character before coming into the league as an agent.
One of Paul’s most interesting lessons in life came after learning gambling from his father. However, this wasn’t from a gambling perspective. As per Paul’s dad, gambling was a tool that was meant to help him get by and survive in the long run.
RP turned this gambling lesson into his career, taking risks with huge stakes being the agent of some of the top players. Hanging out with gamblers, especially men over the age of 45, had given him tremendous insight and perspective into life. As the super agent puts it himself, he learned his lessons from losing. However, Paul was critical of players unwilling to risk losing. That’s the reason why he isn’t willing to play dice with them.
“The characters within the gambling house, the teachings within the gambling house, see, we had to learn by losing. That’s how we learned by losing. These kids today they want to skip every step in the process and it don’t work.”
Rich Paul, however, knows the people who he can trust to share a table with while gambling. Just six days back, the star agent recalled how he had played cards with the legendary Michael Jordan and the NFL Goat Tom Brady back in 2002. Speaking on the Old Man and the Three podcast, Paul recalled how he first started bonding with these sporting legends by playing spades when they started hanging out.
Rich Paul is currently best known as a longtime associate and agent of the Los Angeles Lakers star, LeBron James. Together, the duo achieved significant success in the NBA.
Rich Paul’s father taught him how to gamble to survive
Rich Paul’s father knew the best ways to help his children survive their tough neighborhood and life in general. As a child, Paul had learned gambling from his dad, who was teaching this from a survival perspective. Speaking about the same, Paul said:
“He said to us, ‘These are the tools, that will allow you to get from here to here. If you get laid off on this job, to get to the next job, you going to need some time, to get by, here are some things that you can do, to get by.’ I turned it into my job because I got infatuated with it.”
Starting as an agent for LeBron James wasn’t easy for Paul either. Representing a magnanimous player like LBJ proved detrimental for Paul to some extent. However, the super agent had learned to be competitive, which gave him a significant edge over other agents. This is what drove him towards success, amassing a wide portfolio of NBA stars under his banner.
