Who are the top NBA super agents?

By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM · Certified WNBA player agent · Former certified NBA agent

Published November 1, 2026. Last updated November 1, 2026.

This is Part 2 of a six-part series on the business of basketball. Part 1 covered the agencies. This part covers the people, using public interviews, firm biographies and news reports. It profiles professional careers only, and it makes no recommendation to contact or sign with anyone.

• Part 1: which agencies lead the market and how that is measured.
• Part 2 (this article): the best-known NBA agents and the paths they took.
• Part 3: the agencies and agents behind women's basketball.
• Part 4: how an NBA contract is negotiated at the top of the market.
• Part 5: WNBA contracts, endorsements and the agent fee cap.
• Part 6: certification, fees and the ways into the business.

How did Rich Paul become an agent?

How Rich Paul became an agent is one of the sport's best-documented career stories. He met LeBron James in 2002 at the Akron-Canton Airport, worked at CAA under Leon Rose, and launched Klutch Sports Group in 2012 when James left CAA, per Sportico. UTA invested in Klutch in 2019, Paul became head of UTA's sports division and later the first Black member of UTA's board, and Klutch manages about $7.27 billion in contracts, per theGrio in August 2026.

The Rich Paul client list NBA coverage cites includes LeBron James, Anthony Davis, De'Aaron Fox and Tyrese Maxey, plus Darius Garland and Draymond Green, per Sportico. A search for LeBron James agent Rich Paul returns the same answer, and James and Paul remain the clearest example of a player and agent building a firm together. This series cites no figure for Rich Paul net worth 2026, because the Sportico biography and theGrio's 2026 profile publish none; the measurable business fact is the contract total above.

Who is Jeff Schwartz of Excel?

Jeff Schwartz founded Excel Sports Management in 2002 as a basketball management and marketing business, and he expanded it to multiple sports in 2011 when Casey Close and Mark Steinberg joined, per Wikipedia. Forbes ranked him the most powerful basketball agent in 2022, and Excel won the Sports Business Journal award for Best in Talent Management in 2024, its third win, per the same page.

The Jeff Schwartz Excel Sports clients named there include Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Kristaps Porzingis, Tyler Herro and Cade Cunningham. The Nikola Jokic agent Jeff Schwartz heads Excel, per that list. On the question of Jeff Schwartz NBA salaries managed, no published total exists, and agents are not required to report one. A third-party tracker lists total contract values for three clients: Jokic at $276.1 million, Cunningham at $269.1 million and Jamal Murray at $207.8 million, undated and in total value rather than annual pay.

Who are Aaron Mintz and Austin Brown at CAA?

Aaron Mintz and Austin Brown are the best-known names in CAA's basketball group. Mintz joined CAA in March 2012 after 11 years as a basketball agent and studied sports management at the University of Michigan, and Brown joined in 2013 after DePauw University, a stint at JP Morgan and law school at Washington and Lee, per Boardroom in February 2022. Clients named then included Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Zion Williamson and Julius Randle.

Searches for Aaron Mintz CAA Sports and Austin Brown CAA basketball also surface their current rosters. A tracker lists Jalen Brunson and Paul George under Mintz, per SalarySwish, undated. Their titles and 2026 status were not stated in the sources opened for this series.

The question about Jayson Tatum often comes up beside them. Searches for a Jayson Tatum sports agent CAA pairing are common, and the sources opened for this series do not confirm that pairing. The tracker lists Jeffrey Wechsler of 247 Sports Management, per SalarySwish, so a reader who needs a definite answer should rely on the NBPA directory and team announcements. Tatum's five-year, $314 million Celtics extension was reported in July 2024, per AP via Western Mass News.

What are the Bill Duffy WME Sports clients?

Bill Duffy founded BDA Sports Management more than 30 years ago. Endeavor bought a stake on December 15, 2020, with Duffy advising WME Sports while remaining chairman and CEO, per Front Office Sports. A later Sportico report says WME bought out the remainder of BDA and that Duffy was expected to lead WME's basketball division, with clients named including Luka Doncic, Scottie Barnes, Chet Holmgren and RJ Barrett, per Sportico.

For the Luka Doncic agent list, Duffy is the named agent in Sportico's reporting. The tracker also lists Anthony Edwards as a Duffy client, which answers many searches for the Anthony Edwards sports agent, per SalarySwish. The same tracker names Bouna Ndiaye of Comsports for the Victor Wembanyama agent name search, per SalarySwish. Because the tracker is undated, check any assignment against recent team or agency announcements.

Who is Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports?

Mark Bartelstein Priority Sports history starts in 1985, when he founded Priority Sports and Entertainment after working as a banker at Morgan Stanley, per Wikipedia. Forbes ranked the firm seventh in 2014 with $560 million in contracts, and Gordon Hayward's four-year, $128 million Celtics deal in 2017 is among the contracts listed. The page describes the firm's earlier years and says little about the current roster; the tracker lists 79 Priority clients.

What do Jason Glushon and Alex Saratsis have in common?

Both built reputations on landmark contracts. Searches for Jason Glushon sports management lead to the firm he founded, Glushon Sports Management. He was a Wasserman agent from 2013, graduated Loyola Law in 2016, and went on to negotiate Al Horford's $113 million maximum deal and Jrue Holiday's $150 million contract, per Loyola Law School. Boston.com reported in April 2025 that Glushon worked on Jaylen Brown's 2023 extension, per Boston.com, and a tracker lists him as Brown's agent, per SalarySwish.

The Alex Saratsis Octagon career began in 2009 and became co-managing director of basketball in December 2020. He negotiated Giannis Antetokounmpo's global Nike deal in 2017, a five-year, $228 million supermax extension in 2020 and a three-year, $186 million extension in October 2023, per Invest in Sports. In short, the Giannis Antetokounmpo agent Alex Saratsis also represents Bam Adebayo, whose five-year, $163 million extension came in 2020.

What do the best-known agents have in common?

Their paths differ, yet each combined a long relationship with players and a certification from the union. Paul started with one relationship, Duffy and Bartelstein built firms over decades, Glushon moved from a large agency to his own, and Mintz and Brown rose inside CAA. Agents notice that no single background dominates, which is encouraging for readers who study the business. The law degree or sports management degree guide compares two common starting points.

Readers studying the certification path behind these careers can use the Aspiring Agent Launch Kit, which covers the path, the first 90 days and the trackers.

Players' choices change over time, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed when he left his agency in February 2025 and began handling on-court matters himself, per Sports Illustrated. Part 3 turns to women's basketball, and the WNBA agents article profiles its leading agents.