LeBron James Reminded Everyone Rich Paul Is ‘H.I.M.’ After Fred VanVleet’s Max Deal With The Rockets

Rich Paul and the folks at Klutch Sports were busy on Friday night, as they were wheeling and dealing amid the free agency frenzy as the NBA’s league year began in earnest at 6 p.m. ET.

The first big Klutch client to sign was Draymond Green, who had a 4-year, $100 million deal worked out with the Warriors as soon as free agency began. That was followed by Jerami Grant getting a 5-year, $160 million deal from the Portland Trail Blazers, as they had to keep him long-term to satiate Damian Lillard — and also because they had no cap space to replace him if he walked. From there, Fred VanVleet got the eye-popping deal of the night with a 3-year, $130 million max deal from the Houston Rockets, as they leveraged the third year out of Houston after Toronto came to the table with a reported 4-year, $120 million offer.

It was quite the night for the Klutch team, and it came amid some rumblings of discontent in Klutch land after Omar Wilkes left the agency to join Fanatics and two of his top clients, OG Anunoby and Anthony Edwards, left the agency as well. With that as a backdrop, LeBron James decided to puff his chest out for his good friend Rich Paul after he orchestrated $390 million worth of deals for the three biggest Klutch free agents, and send a message to those who had departed.

LeBron has never been shy about heaping praise on his friends and, at this point, isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers in the league if needed to do so. This is clearly a message he’s trying to send about Klutch being just fine even with the rumors about Paul and the agency’s future, and it’s hard to blame him on a night where Klutch secured three of the biggest deals of free agency out of the gate.