Rich Paul blasts Michael Jordan’s former agent over LeBron James criticism, stoking GOAT debate

While there doesn’t appear to be any beef between Michael Jordan and LeBron James, there apparently is some brewing between James’ longtime representative and Jordan’s longtime former agent. 

 Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports and James’ longtime business partner, recently called out comments made by David Falk, who served as Jordan’s agent for the entirety of his NBA career. Paul specifically addressed Falk’s recent comments suggesting his former client “would’ve won 15 championships” had he “cherry-picked” teams during his career. It’s clear, based on Paul’s response, that Falk’s cherry-picking comment touched a nerve, as that has been consistent criticism of James when it comes to Jordan-backers. 

Here’s the entirely of Paul’s comments on the matter during a recent appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” via YahooSports. 

“The cherry picking terminology of it all, coming from someone who literally had John Thompson, Dean Smith, and Mike Krzyzewski supporting his business, putting superstar athletes in his lap. I think he was part of the cherry clan. I just thought it was very unfair and a little beneath David Falk for a number of reasons.” 

“We can’t have revisionist history, and we all want to determine who’s the G.O.A.T and who’s the best and so on and so forth. But I just thought that was a little beneath David to say that.” 

“When you look at that, right, again the cherry-pick, I’ve discussed that. The two other superstars – Michael never had to leave Michael’s never been the underdog in any Finals. Not one time.”

“Michael never had a 24-hour, 365 news cycle. He never had shows built strictly to criticize him. People made millions of dollars criticizing LeBron James. That was their entire job. And when you talk about the difficulty of it all, Michael played for Dean Smith, Michael played for Phil Jackson, and Michael had Jerry Krause.”

“I’m the biggest Michael Jordan fan ever, love Michael Jordan, and I don’t think Michael Jordan would’ve used the term ‘cherry-pick,’ so I’m not up here to discredit Michael Jordan. I think Michael Jordan transcended our game to a level that we all benefitted from.”

Paul makes a lot of good points, especially when it comes to the situations both Jordan and James dealt with during their careers. Jordan, as Paul noted, was virtually never considered an underdog heading into an NBA Finals, although the Bulls‘ Finals matchups with the Lakers (1991), Suns (1993) and Jazz (1998) were generally seen as coin-flips. 

Yes, Jordan was the indisputable engine that drove those Bulls teams, but it wasn’t like Chicago’s roster wasn’t littered with talent. Those teams featured three other future Hall of Famers and two other top-75 all-time players in Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, who signed with Chicago as free agents prior to the Bulls’ second three-peat of the decade. Jordan, as Paul alluded to, also played under one of the greatest coaches of all-time in Jackson, whose record of 11 NBA titles won may never be touched. 

The Bulls were not ready to compete with the NBA’s elite when Jordan first got to Chicago, but that didn’t last long, not after then-Bulls GM Jerry Krause built not one but two rosters around Jordan that were able to win at historic levels. The same, however, couldn’t be said of the Cavaliers during James’ first run with the franchise in the 2000s. 

Despite a glaring lack of a supporting cast, James carried the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007, the second round of the playoffs in 2008 (where they lost to a much more talented Celtics team that would ultimately win the title that season), the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009 (losing to the Magic in six games) and the NBA’s best record in 2010 (the Cavs lost against to Boston in the second round that postseason). 

At that point, James decided that a change was necessary. He joined forces with fellow future Hall of Famers Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, and what followed were two titles and four NBA Finals appearances in four seasons. James then went back to Cleveland, where he won his third title while playing alongside fellow standouts Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Together, the trio pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history when the Cavaliers overcame a 3-1 series deficit to shock the 73-win Golden State Warriors in the Finals. 

James won his fourth and most recent NBA title in 2020 as a member of the Lakers. Like his three previous championships, James won this title with the help of another star in center Anthony Davis, who was traded during the 2024-25 season to Dallas in exchange for Luka Doncic, one of the NBA’s best players. Despite the acquisition, the Lakers lost in the first round of this year’s playoffs. 

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As noted above, while Paul and Falk are clearly not on the same page, there doesn’t appear to be any animosity between Jordan and James. While they admittedly aren’t close, James hasn’t been shy about his admiration for Jordan, who served as an inspiration for James when he was growing up. In turn, Jordan been respectful and complimentary when it comes to James. In 2022, the two had a memorable embrace during the NBA’s celebration of its 75th anniversary all-time team. 

When it comes to the constant comparisons, both men have often said it’s simply not fair to compare players from different eras. Jordan had his challenges during his career, and LeBron has had his. Really, the debate between the two comes down to personal preference. Jordan backers will also look to him as the GOAT, and the same can be said of James and his fan base.