The Agent Game
Words. HShoop
Last night’s McDonald’s All-American game allowed twenty-four of the best high school basketball players to showcase their talents in front of a national audience. The game gave Brandon Jennings a chance to debut his amazing Kid-N-Play flat-top fade. And it also gave some of the biggest name in the agent game a chance to lure future all-stars into their camps.
Does it matter that the agents can’t ink these kids for at least another year? Does it matter that any sort of professional relationship with NCAA athletes can easily be construed as illegal, and result in eligibility issues? Not to the agents, who badger these kids endlessly. Jennings deferred all calls from agents to his mom, who has since stopped answering calls that she doesn’t recognize the phone number, according to the Washington Post.
In addition to the courting factor for agents, players might be aversely affected by their presence, adding unneeded pressure to perform.
From that Post article…
But several of the McDonald’s all-Americans acknowledged it is difficult, at times, to ignore the attention they receive from agents and their representatives. Michael Dunigan, a 6-10 center who has signed with Oregon, said players are sometimes left to assume who’s an agent and who’s not. “People in the gym can be connected to anybody,” he said. Agents hope to make the right decision when buying in early, but that requires compiling information that sometimes can be found only in upper Midwest cities on brisk March nights.
If the kids don’t have enough on their minds with the game and all the fanfare of being a McDonald’s HS All-American, they have agents watching their every move.
[Malcolm] Lee said agents at the McDonald’s game are “trying to get their name into the mix.” When asked whether such ploys would be a factor in his eventual decision to hire representation, Lee sat back in his chair and cocked his head toward the ceiling.
“It could be,” he said. “It’s not like it’s 100 percent I’m gonna go with them, but it could be.”
This is my idol, after looking you up after a friend told me about you (Brandon Jenning). The game I went to see in Minnosta was the best game i’ve watched in a long time. I still think you could have beat the record. You are inspiring me to work even harder for my basketball career. Thanks for the playing the game the way you do, because i was about to stop basketball forever because of my coach.