More Than a Decade Before LeBron James’ $50,000 Hustle, Rich Paul Pocketed up to $5000 While Gambling as a Teenager

NBA Super-agent and LeBron James’ close friend Rich Paul took a number of risks throughout his career to build his $120,000,000 empire. As revealed in a recent feature on CBS News, taking risks was something that came naturally to Paul, which is also evident from his love of gambling, something that he got into when he was a teenager. As a matter of fact, Paul revealed that he would earn around $1000 a day easily and would even end up earning $4000 or even $5000 on more successful days.

Of course, gambling is something even his friend LeBron James has tried his hands in. Back in 2017, the King’s former teammate Dwyane Wade revealed that LeBron had won $50,000 once while playing cards with former Heat star Mario Chalmers during a team flight. The hilarious incident occurred in front of several Miami Heat players back in 2010, more than a decade after Rich Paul was earning $5000 a day during his gambling sessions.

Rich Paul would earn $5000 a day while gambling as a teenager in Cleveland

Paul revealed, during the recent CBS 60 minutes feature, that risk taking was something that came naturally to him. It was a skill he had learnt while gambling as a teenager and it proved to be extremely useful when he would negotiate on the behalf of his players.

Speaking to Bill Whitaker and Edward Givens, Paul revealed that on a slow day, he would easily earn around $1000. However, on better days, the then teenager was raking in around $4000 to $5000. Here’s a section from the interview that discusses the topic:

“Rich Paul: I mean, a slow day was $1,000. 

Bill Whitaker: And a not-slow day?

Rich Paul: Ah- you know, $4 or 5.

Bill Whitaker: $4,000 or $5,000.

Rich Paul: Yeah.

Edward Givens: Easy.

Rich Paul: Easy.

Bill Whitaker: When you were 14, 15, 16?

Rich Paul: Oh, yeah.”

Asked about what he learnt from the overall experience, Rich Paul revealed that it was resilience. While he ended up winning money most days, Paul claimed that gambling regularly also meant that he had to learn how to take losses:

“You gain a resilience here. We won majority of the time. But you also had to learn how to lose.”

This was years before LeBron James himself showed his gambling talent while on a Miami Heat flight. He ended up winning a whopping $50,000 from Mario Chalmers in one sitting. Wade had claimed that they had ended up running up and down the aisle of the plane celebrating James winning.

It will be fair to say that Rich Paul used his real world knowledge to scale businesses after he founded the KLUTCH Sports Agency. Like many of his other gambles, the company also proved to be successful. 

LeBron James is not the only NBA star to dabble in gambling

James and Rich Paul are just two NBA personalities who have shown a love for gambling. Some of the biggest NBA stars often end up taking a lot of risks in their journey to succeed in the world of gambling.

That seems to translate to a love of gambling as well. Right from the likes of Michael Jordan, Allan Iverson Charles Barkley, and Kobe Bryant, some of the best NBA players have had issues related to gambling, as noted by NBA Hoops Online.