Rich Paul credited the rough Cleveland streets for his success as a sports agent today: "This was my Harvard"

The NBA not only has superstars on the court, it also has stars off of it – and Rich Paul is undoubtedly one of them, boasting a reputation as one of the most successful agents in the league today.

Paul is the founder and CEO of Klutch Sports Group, a sports agency that represents around 200 athletes in the country's major sports leagues, such as the NBA, NFL and MLB.

Currently, he represents 40 clients and the most famous one is LeBron James. According to Forbes, he has earned $111 million in commissions from $2.77 billion in player contracts, including those with Darius Garland and Anthony Davis – earning him the nickname, the "King Maker."

Not bad for a college dropout who had a tough childhood in Cleveland, Ohio. A life on the streets would have derailed the career trajectory of many, but not Paul. In fact, he admitted that it helped propel him to where he is now.

Surviving war every day

Being a kid was a luxury Rich could not afford.

On the East Side of Cleveland, he was forced to grow up early, with his mother suffering from a crippling addiction and his father, whom he said was his role model, being diagnosed with intestinal cancer.

When he was 19 years old, his father died from the illness.

"I didn't have that lifestyle that we see on TV, where you have the picture-perfect family and all the holidays are spent together and the Christmas tree is full. I didn't have that," he said in an exclusive interview with GQ Sports' Sam Schube in 2022.

Lacking parental guidance, Paul was pulled into the streets of Cleveland. He had long been immersed in it and it only got worse when his father died. As he described in the interview, the environment was not ideal for him or any child, for that matter. He had grown men aged 35 to 40 years old as his acquaintances. The streets were fraught with violence, drugs and prostitution.

But Paul's father did not raise a quitter.

"Growing up in the environment that I did was really f—ed up, man…Still to this day, at my level, it's traumatizing," he said. "So, I learned that number one, that doesn't give you an excuse to just give up on life and say, 'F—k it.'"

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Paul's alma mater 

Like most parents, Paul's father wanted his son to get a good education. After graduating from the Roman Catholic high school, Benedictine High School, he went to the University of Akron.

However, during his freshman year, his father's cancer diagnosis forced him to transfer to Cleveland State so he could be closer and take care of his pops. RP would eventually drop out of college after his father succumbed to cancer in 1999.

Although Paul was not able to fulfill his father's dream for him to finish school, he turned to the lessons he learned while trying to survive the streets of Cleveland.

"This was my Harvard, my Michigan, it was my Morehouse," Paul said in an interview with CBS Sports in 2023. "The same things I learned on this corner, I take it to the boardroom. Because the one thing this teaches you that I don't think you can learn from those institutions is people and character. And on the streets, it's no better way to learn character because they're coming with everything."

Those street smarts would prove crucial during that one fateful encounter at the Akron-Canton Airport in 2002, when Paul – donning a vintage Warren Moon Jersey – met a 17-year-old LeBron, the biggest NBA prospect at that time.

Drawing on lessons from his unconventional alma mater, he instantly earned James's trust. From there, he went from selling jerseys out of the trunk of his car to one of the most powerful agents in the world of sports.

Now, the King Maker continues to build his empire.

Related: "Just appreciate the present" - Shams Charania on what Rich Paul told him about LeBron James' NBA future

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Nov 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.