As rumors swirl about the future home of New Orleans Pelicans All-Star Anthony Davis, Davis’ agent Rich Paul continues to make headlines with quotes about where Davis wants to play.
Paul’s approach has come under fire, most recently by Hall of Famer Charles Barkley in a recent interview with The Rich Eisen Show.
During Friday’s show, Barkley was unfiltered with his take and said Paul is “trying to bail out” his client, LeBron James, with the Los Angeles Lakers and save the remaining years of James’ career.
“He’s trying to bail out LeBron,” Barkley said, via The Rich Eisen Show. “LeBron went to a bad situation with the Lakers and he’s trying to get one of his clients to go there. Rich is a good guy, but they’re trying to force the NBA. No, no, no. Nobody’s going therE. They’re such a dysfunctional organization and he don’t want LeBron to waste the last three to four years of his career.”
Barkley went on to say that Paul is trying to force New Orleans to send Davis to Los Angeles, threatening other NBA teams that Davis will become a free agent in 2020 regardless of where he is traded.
Paul is certainly putting himself out there and working to pull the strings as much as possible to orchestrate where Davis will go. Davis might really want to play in Los Angeles, but having his agent always handle and dictate matters isn’t the greatest look for one of the NBA’s best players.