NCAA Issues Statement Firing Back At LeBron And Other Critics Over ‘Rich Paul’ Rule

Photo Credit: Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images

NCAA Issues Statement Firing Back At LeBron And Other Critics Over ‘Rich Paul’ Rule

 

The NCAA issued a memo to agents outlining new certification requirements in order to represent players looking to enter the NBA Draft. The first qualification is that the agent has to have a bachelor’s degree at minimum. They also need to be certified with the NBPA for a minimum of three years and take an in-person exam at the NCAA Office.

This caused some backlash due to the sports’ biggest agent, Rich Paul, founder of Klutch Sports Group, not having a bachelor’s degree. LeBron James and other NBA stars came in to defend the agent and blasted the NCAA, dubbing the new criteria, the ‘Rich Paul Rule’.

The NCAA issued a statement in the meantime, that fires back at LeBron and anybody else that believes this rule is because of Rich Paul’s influence.

 

“Although some can and have been successful without a college degree, as a higher education organization, the NCAA values a college education and continues to emphasize the importance of earning a degree. We were guided by recommendations from the Commission on College Basketball — which spoke with the agent and advisor community — that the NCAA certification process should be more stringent than current processes. With this in mind, we benchmarked our new rules against requirements for other organizations that certify agents, like the NBPA, which also requires agents to have a bachelor’s degree. While different and distinct, our rules taken together, which is the manner they were meant to be examined, provide a clear opportunity for our student-athletes to receive excellent advice from knowledgeable professionals on either the college or professional path they choose.”

 

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