Nightcap Hour 2: Rich Paul JOINS NIGHTCAP to TALK LeBron James + LeBron EXPECTED To MAKE DECISION SOON

17:16They've always been two or three steps ahead of everybody else. And what I like to call it, I like to call it playing the waiting game. LeBron is methodical. They're very strategic, and they're always ahead of the game. They're always ahead of the curve. in everything that they do. His next move has to be his best move. That's what they're thinking. So I'm going to respond to him. Stay with me. I'll stay with you. Look at the landscape of the NBA right now. What is the best thing for LeBron to do? Okay. Do I want to go play in the West? In the West? Absolutely not. Listen, go to state and look good on paper.

17:48Does he want to play with Steph? Yes. He's always loved to play with Steph. But at this point in his career, do you want to go to the West and deal with them juggernauts? No, you don't want to deal with, You don't want to deal with Denver. You don't want to deal with the Spurs and Wimby. You don't want to deal with them. So what's the best fit for him? The East? Over there in Philly? Why? You got Maxie need the ball. You got Jalen Brunson. Again, I mentioned earlier. I mean, excuse me. Jalen Brown. You got Embiid sort of clogging up the hole a little bit. He in the way. That don't make no sense.

18:19Down here, the 305 in the county where you already been. Why not bring another trip down here? You can facilitate. You can dictate. Well, you told the pace of the games.

18:29Chad Johnson:Well, hey, do I gotta worry about my cookies getting taken again? Now we good? We be good? Huh? I mean, you telling me that now, but when I get there,

18:38Shannon Sharpe:what is it gonna be like? It's like a recruiting trip, Joe. They tell you all the good stuff until they get you to sign, and then all of a sudden, no, it ain't nothing like that. We gonna be good. We gonna be good. Man, y 'all funny, man.

18:52Chad Johnson:But let me ask you this. OK, OK, hey, listen. Go ahead, Joe. Rich, damn, can we, I mean, what coast we gonna be on? Dollar bill can't give you nothing, Joe. Hey, Joe, I just explained everything to you. He's in a tough spot. I'm rich representation right now. I'm his voice. I'm his platform. I'm telling y 'all what's gonna happen.

19:17Shannon Sharpe:It's just kind of hard to believe. You have another client, and he got traded from the Lakers, went to Dallas. He got injured right there, and he really didn't get an opportunity to fulfill. because the way they looked at it, they thought if we got Kyrie, we got AD, and they ended up getting Cooper flagged, I would have loved to have seen how that would have panned out. It didn't happen. But if AD could give them somewhere between 60 and 65 games with Trey, with something to prove after being traded from Atlanta, and AJ DeBanza, can the Wizards be a problem? I think the Wizards are top 16 in the East.

19:49I think the Wizards are top 16 in the East, man. I really believe that, because, you know, say what you want about Trey. Look, it's very difficult to play one-on-one basketball defensively in the NBA. I don't care. Nobody can guard Joe Johnson. Nobody. The best of them. And we had some great defenders. Tony Allen was numero uno off night. He was the original off night. You had a lot of great defenders back then. It's just hard to defend a guy one-on-one. So now you've got to have great team defensive guys, guys that help side defense. Your rotations have to be right. When it comes to being a great team, I think understanding and getting guys to buy in and play a role has a major factor.

20:39The younger the team, you've got to think all these guys are coming from, it was my situation. They picked the school they wanted to go to. They picked the AAU team they wanted to play on. They picked the high school team they wanted to play on. So now I get to the league, I don't have that. So now who's willing to actually buy in? Who's willing to play a role, right? Because you're not getting 25 shot attempts every night, not when you got all-stars and all-NBA type guys on the team, right? And then someone has to sacrifice. So I think if the Wizards, the organization is not what people would think, perceived just because they had a losing record.

21:19They're actually doing some really great things there in Washington. They went out and got Will Dawkins and Michael Wenger. The leadership group had already been great. So that's never been an issue. Ted and his son, Zach, are tremendous people. I just believe that they're going to be a really strong team and a shop to the east this year, given that all cylinders are clicking. I know AJ's coming in as the number one pick, but he's going to have to fit in and play a role. Now, there'll be some nights where he get off and do his thing, no question about it. And he's talented enough to do so. But it's just all about the buy-in.

21:58And that happens in training camp. That happens in the film room. That happens on a Tuesday night against Sacramento or against Milwaukee or the young teams that you may see or look and see on paper and say, oh, we should beat them. But then you have to actually beat them because this is the NBA. So you go in there and you play in me basketball, you won't win. The one thing AD brings to the table is he's a champion, right? He's been to the finals and won. He's been to the Western Conference finals. When he came to L.A., I think six out of the seven years or whatever he was there, they made the playoffs and maybe five out of the seven, but they played high-level basketball the entire time.

22:36So he brings that into the locker room. And in addition to, they got those wings. They got really young guards. And I think they're going to do things the right way. So if there was a sleeper in the East, it's Washington for me now. Could they be six? Could they be eight? Whatever. You know, a couple games off would dictate that. But, you know, staying healthy, I think they'll be the surprise of the league this year.

23:03Shannon Sharpe:Absolutely. Britt, you look at Wimby. Wimby has an opportunity to sign a Supermax contract,$303 million. He takes$250 million. Don't do this to me. And you hear a lot of agents. Don't do this to me, man. I know how you're feeling, but the thing is that second apron. And we hear Brad Stevenson saying that's why we had to move on from Jalen Brown. I don't – whatever the case may be. But I thought winning was the most important. And if we're going to win, okay, we have to go to the first apron, the second apron. Hell, if we got to get an apron apron. You got to get Angel Mama's apron, man, for all that money.

23:41Listen. But here's the thing. I think there's certain decisions that can be made by certain people. And, you know, if you know Wimby, if you know his representation, both Jeremy and Boone are really great guys, I think he's one of those guys that can actually do it and justify it down there in San Antonio for different reasons. But I do think that may – I don't know if it sets a trend, but, you know, it depends on your situation and it depends on what's important to you. The way I look at things has always been you guys are going to play forever. I don't know if you're going to play five years, seven years, 10 years, 14.

24:19And at some point, you know, you know, your your your your value doesn't stay consistent or doesn't increase. Most people value decrease, especially after the year five or six, sometimes seven. And I think that's one of those things that is very misleading for the fans and for people that watch our sport and watch athletes. They think, oh, they make money and they make that level of money all the time. No. The other thing, too, is athletes have to make their most important decisions at their youngest age. See, you guys, just like, unlike executives, we keep getting bites at the apple. You know, you can go and do something else.

25:03You know, you reposition yourself. I work over here for this corporate corporate company. Now I go over here and, you know, the mistakes I made at thirty five. Now I'm making my money at forty five. And then I really hit it at fifty five. You guys don't get that. That hardwood don't give that gridiron. Don't give that ice rink. Don't give that baseball diamond. Don't get you can't. And, you know, you can't play forever. And so you say, well, you can make it up. Not really. And the other thing is, well, most people can't. And the other thing is, you know, when you always say the more years you play in college, just take those years at your highest earning potential and knock it off your career earnings.

25:46and so it's tough right and so I don't I don't necessarily recommend things but also I don't represent everybody but if I if my client was in a position to where he can do that like right now LJ's not making about the money he's not making about the money we didn't we didn't we didn't sit back and tell nobody to hold nothing or do you know we there was conversations but at the end of day you know people got to do what they need to do but it's not about that and so that actually makes the decision harder because as you guys as former athletes when have you ever made a decision that wasn't about the money as an athlete right that that always trumps your decision because you can say man you know what i really like that team over there but they got a dollar this team over here offering 10 hey i gotta go get this 10 just because of the position i don't know how long I'm going to be able to get that team.

26:42Shannon Sharpe:Is that what makes it so difficult? It's because everybody seemed to have the damn same amount of money. Well, here's the thing. When you remove the money, now you actually have clarity. You've never seen an athlete be in this position, huh? Where have you ever seen an athlete be in this position where he can sit there and say, oh, don't worry about the money? How? I've never seen it. I don't know. I've been around a long time. It's my 25th season. It's his 24th. I count 25. I don't know. I've never seen that before. And so that's not the only thing that makes it difficult. There's a number of things that makes it difficult.

27:19Obviously, being in year 24, you're not in 12 or 14. And so you really have to evaluate things a lot differently. And, you know, we've never going to be rushed to do anything. And we damn sure don't care about what nobody has to say or think. Not at this point. We didn't work too hard to get here now. We can't be worried about that. I think it's more so just, you know, when the man's ready to make his decision, he makes a decision. But I say all that to say, when you're talking about from Wimby's situation, I tip my hat. You know, he's showing leadership with his group of people. And, you know, that Spurs organization, man, they, you know, they are first class.

27:59And, you know, I think, I don't know how much, I don't see how much was it, like a$30 million difference or whatever the case may be. $50 million difference over five. so that's 10 Texas 8 yeah you know it's real money but hey everybody's situation is different everybody's situation is different

28:22Shannon Sharpe:what about the criticism Rich they say you're an active agent and you have a pod and you're speaking on you don't only just speak on things that might impact you and your clients but potentially speaking on things that impact other clients and other agents and other teams what do you what do you say to everybody speaking on everything huh i'm saying everybody's speaking on everything what i say is you know i'm not turning down an opportunity to influence the youth to give the youth uh confidence that they can do anything because guess what all these people are the main ones talking they're also the main ones wasn't going to ever give somebody that looked like me to come from where I come from, the lack there of a higher education opportunity.

29:08So why should I care what they have to say when I'm continuing to just look at the blaze that's being trailed? Don't don't worry about what I'm saying. Just just look at the blaze that's being trailed and opportunities that's given. I have 230, 229, including myself, 30 young people that that that that work. You know, when I when I first started my business, nobody believed how hard it was for me to get an opportunity. Not many meetings I had to be to drive runs I had to make and be turned down. And so I think it's not necessarily what's being said. It's the package that the words is coming in.

29:44You know, it's me. And I understand that. And that's OK. But just because it hadn't been done before, don't mean the right thing to do. And look, there is a responsibility that comes with things. and I know that, but if you really listen and don't focus on the clipping, even early on this year, I just gave a scenario based upon what my colleague was saying. And I gave a scenario breaking down what could be. And if you dissect it, what was sought after? A big. All I said is if it was me, the way I look at it because as you know this is what I do I do this every day all day evaluate talent and it's not just people say oh you're just an agent well actually that's not true I'm actually the CEO of a company that happens to be an agent and so you know trying to put somebody in a box is the worst thing especially for me I mean it's just tough to put put me in a box because I know how hard it is.

30:53And once somebody turned that faucet off and you go there and you try to turn that faucet on and there's no more water, you're still thirsty. You've got to drink. So you've got to create other pipelines because you know how this thing goes. And so I don't get discouraged. Discouragement has killed more people than guns. And I just can't focus there, man. It's just too tough to focus, especially when I know how hard it is to get the opportunity. Players have podcasts. The moment that it distracts of getting away of my day job, then that's a different story. But it doesn't at all. I haven't missed a beat.

31:36We're growing and we're having a lot of fun. Again, they talked about Jesus, man. I don't take myself too serious.

31:47Shannon Sharpe:Would you leave your current role to run a team, say like a Rob like a Leon Rose would that something you would consider? No, not right now We rolling, huh? Did you see the draft?

32:04Chad Johnson:Hey, speaking of the draft you got one of my favorite players to watch I watched him in high school Caleb Williams hey hey hey i've been random raving to arcan ocho about how nice he is and i thought he showed great flash in college obviously him getting hurt but when you think about it rich that he made seven threes in college bro he made he went seven for 11 other night yeah from three and they talk about oh man he reminds me of cage he reminds me of kg hell i seen a lot of kd the other night You know, I think I've always said I thought he had the most upside in the entire draft and just a tremendous kid, a great family.

32:49And he's serious about his approach. He's serious about his profession. You see the post the post game interview. They said you had 35. He's like, yeah, but we lost focus on that. We lost. And then he talked about how he was emotional going into the game and, you know, being vulnerable and being able to state that, hey, I was emotional. I actually cried because this is my first time playing since I got hurt. The game means that much to me. That's not an act. I'm just letting you know. That's not an act. That is very authentic and true to the core. And, you know, we had, you know, Caleb and Co-Apeete and Brayden Burry, just an unbelievable draft class this year, man.

33:33and just unbelievable young men and families still. That's the thing. And so when you talk about going to do something else, obviously people talk about that and there's been rumors and every competitive agent meeting they tell families, oh, Rich going to run a team and things like that. I think that's part of the game. But the reality of it is, no. See, it's the difference between building a business and building a book of business. I built a business. And so it's not that easy to go away from. And I don't even want to do that, but it's not that easy to go away from. I enjoy what I do getting up every day.

34:13I'm in that office every day if I'm not in the golf course, obviously. And, you know, I think it's. I'll say this. I'm honored when people say that, because as you guys know, I come a long way, man. But at the same time, I really enjoy what I do. The moment I stop enjoying it, I won't do it. But but but right now I really enjoy what I do. I have great clients and great families. We built a tremendous business that stretches far beyond representation. And, you know, every day I get up, I'm still thinking of how to get better. I'm still trying to perfect my craft, man, and find different ways of processing and, you know, different verticals.

34:59That's not representation, just representation adjacent. I'm learning a lot every day. And so, you know, you learn from young people. You get a lot of young people around you. These kids are smart, man, very smart. So I'm learning a lot. So no, no, not right now, man. Not right now. I'm still a young man. You know what you're trying to do? Why are you trying to get me out of the game? Hey, you with them? I ain't trying to get you out of the game. You with me? Okay. Okay.

35:30Chad Johnson:Hey, Rich. Go ahead, Ocho. Go ahead. I got a question. With everything you accomplished, being a CEO, building a business, if you didn't go this route. Yeah. If you didn't go this route. Hell, if I didn't play football, if football didn't work out, I wanted to be a marine biologist. I wanted to be a veterinarian. because I love animals and I love killer whales. Yeah. What would have been your other route if you could see it out the way it did? That's a good question. You know, I was always a people's person, Ocho. You know that. Hell, me and you became friends. I ain't played football. Wasn't ever in the Bengals locker room or nothing.

36:08You just had to like it for me, you know? And the same way with me and Joe. You know, that's a good question. Look, again, I threw so many things at the wall hoping one stick, man. And obviously, you know, I think people get it misconstrued when I talk about my journey. And people try to make it that as if I'm not appreciative of the opportunity that LeBron forgave me. I was tremendously appreciative so much show that I couldn't wait to to to do what I've been able to do and not be dependent on. Because I think when an athlete give you an opportunity as a friend, as a brother, as a cousin, distant cousin, you know, whatever the case may be, that's not something that you should rest on.

36:59You know, that's not to, you know, to make a bed. That's more of like a palette, you know. and it's just one of those boosters. But then I think the most respect that we can show you guys is to go on and build something, and then you can look back and say, hey, man, you know what, I'm with that. And I say that to all the young guys that surround my clients. I tell them, you know, it's on you. There's no way that you should be asleep when your guy go to practice and come back from practice. There's no way. There's no way them cars should be on E or not washed. There's no way the cleaners shouldn't be there.

37:42The Amazon boxes shouldn't be by them doors, the garage door, that front door. That snow removal should be on time. You know, that refrigerator, them cleaning crews, all of that because it's just a proper way of doing things. And as you know, I try to get a game and as best as I can, man, I'm extremely appreciative of the opportunity that was given to me. But at the same time, I know I knew I couldn't lean on that. You know, and the last thing I ever wanted to do was be that guy in section. And then when it's all over, them people ain't picking up your phone calls. You know, when you build something, they're not picking up your call.

38:24They don't care who you used to hang around with. That don't mean nothing. That's not going to pay the bills. And so I try to express that as best as possible because, you know, I've seen a lot, man. I've seen a whole lot, a whole lot, had to deal with a whole lot. And so I don't know. I probably would have been in the music, probably in music or fashion, you know, music or fashion. I could, you know, vice president of global marketing at one of these shoe companies or, you know, a manager, music manager. I can manage talent all day long. I'm an A &R, too, now. I can pick a lot of records and find writers and get songs made and find the producers.

39:09You know, I had a record deal at 25, 24 years old. What you mean? Come on, man. Listen. You can sing? I didn't pick singles. i didn't done it all uh uh ocho that's just what again that's just me well we know you can pick a single no no no no i picked singles i picked sick come on there you go singles okay oh no no no i said oh yeah hey you know i'm glad i'm glad you said that man you know lebron lebron gave you an opportunity you know he threw your layup and you know i said i sing too so i can see my I don't know about no layup. I had to make the layup myself. Right, right, right. I don't know about no layup.

39:54You know, I've been trying to get in the music industry for a little minute. You know, I can sing now. I can sing my demo. This is what we need to do for you. Because one thing about you, you got it. You a star. I know you a star. Listen, we got to surround you with the right writers. We got to get you the right reference. We got to put that auto-tune on you though, man, because I know you got to put that auto-tune on you. All you Ojo. But we're going to do all the other stuff, the theatrics, man. Right. We got to do that.

40:23Shannon Sharpe:Nah, you going to need to put auto-zone. Car parts. Hey, come on. Hey, I ain't invite you to my show when I perform. No, let me invite you, boy, to the show. Rich, let me ask you. I'm going to get you out on this. Rich, you know what? Being in this business, like you say, quarter century, and you've seen some players have some up and downs. You went right with LeBron in 2011. Darren Fox had a very similar situation this year. He didn't play his best ball. We know Darren Fox is an all-star. He's a phenomenal talent. What were some of the things that you relayed to him, that you talked to him about after the series?

41:04Shannon Sharpe:Yeah, I talked to him a lot. Series over, during the series, after games, and things like that, you know, anytime you play a sport, you got to have short memory. You got to have short memory. I think people, it's hard to place a one season on a not-so-used series. I think we've all seen that from the best of athletes. You know, you don't look like yourself for a series for whatever reason. Shots not falling, don't have your same quickness or your shift or the timing is off or anything like that. And sometimes it just, you know, you said that black table, that blackjack table long enough, you're going to get a bad shoot.

41:41Maybe one or two of them. You know, you just got to weather the storm. You know, New Edition made the best song ever, Can You Stand in Rain? So I think during that time, we was just having conversations about short memory, keeping the confidence, you know, Understanding that social media, especially with all the things that's going on with gambling and things like that now, I think the comments and things like that is out of control when it comes to things like that. So you have to block those things out. But also do other things. Not being on scoring don't mean you can't affect the game in a different way.

42:22So just trying to keep – anytime in that situation, you're just trying to keep guys positive. But at the same time, there's a balancing act. You can talk about it, but then you can't talk too much about it, right? Because at the end of the day, you don't want to be drowned out. And when I say you, I'm saying the athlete don't want to be drowned out with it. You got to get there, go by the house, have a conversation, have a little meal. You may have five, six conversations, read a conversation within that conversation about it, and then you move on. But De 'Aaron's a professional. I have no doubt that he'll have a good year this year.

43:04We don't make excuses. And so, you know, you got to have accountability in situations like that. And he said it himself, you know. Obviously, you know, he needed to do a better job. And I think given the opportunity the next time, he will. Yeah.

43:20Shannon Sharpe:Appreciate that, man. Hey, Rich, thanks for stopping by, man. Yeah, no problem. I know I've been trying to get over. Hey, tell LeBron, hey, tell Goat when you want to have that big reveal, We take you on nightcap, club, Shay Shay. Whatever. Y 'all get on me, man. I don't know anything. I know just as much as y 'all know. You know?

43:41Chad Johnson:Hey, typically, typically I hit him, Rich. I hit him in the DM. He hit me right back. Hell, I hit him. I said, hey man, I need you to come on nightcap. I still ain't hearing from him. Typically he hit me right back. Didn't he tell you he was gonna do this? He said, I thought y 'all was gonna do the show. Well, he gonna do it now. but I thought I don't know

44:01Shannon Sharpe:I thought hey look here hey his face car good anytime yeah yeah I know that yeah he got interest he got interest to the club he got interest to the club anytime I watch the show man I just I enjoy the show and you know y 'all my guys man so I said I've been trying to come on and it's tough so this happened to be the right time I hit Ash I said y 'all I hit you I said y 'all on he said yeah he said yeah I'm on So I appreciate you guys having me on, man. Enjoy the rest of the show. Thank you. Appreciate it. Tell the wife we said hello. I will do. When she performing again, is she touring anytime soon?

44:38Shannon Sharpe:Not to my knowledge. Yeah, not to my knowledge. Get off my pod, man. Not to my knowledge. I got blinders on, man. One thing for sure, I'm like this.

44:53Chad Johnson:Hey, they don't know nothing about that, Rich. They don't know how I like it. The boys at the Kentucky Derby, all he sees is the finish line, man. I don't know who on the map or who on the right. I'm just like this.

45:04Shannon Sharpe:All right, man. We appreciate you, Rich. All right, y 'all. Have a good one, man. All right, bro. Tell everybody to say hello. I will. All right, bro. Dang. Rich Paul, ladies and gentlemen. We learned how to love dogs from the dogs that loved us and waited for us to get home from school. They were the dogs that raised us. We return the love with Pedigree dog food. It was good then, and it's better now. Every bowl has 100 % complete nutrition, supporting six health essentials. And now it includes vitamin good bites, a nutrient boost your dog will love. Pedigree. Good then. Better now.