Miami Heat superstar LeBron James has had quite the summer.
He won another NBA MVP award, led his team to the NBA Championship in June over the Oklahoma City Thunder and then took the U.S. team on his back to win a second gold medal.
His professional success couldn't be at a higher point and now James has decided it is the perfect time to hire a new agent to handle his career.
According to ESPN.com, James has moved on from longtime agent Leon Rose and the Creative Artists Agency to hire his childhood friend Rich Paul and a new agency. James has known Paul since he was a teenager.
While changing agents in professional sports is a common occurrence, it's different when talking about the most talented player in the world. James has numerous endorsement deals, is a worldwide brand and also has stakes in business ventures other than basketball.
He has a stake in the soccer club Liverpool FC, which James received for moving his marketing management to Fenway Sports Group last year.
Paul has worked at CAA for a few years and also represents a number of young NBA stars, such as Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe and Charlotte Bobcats rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the No. 2 overall pick in this past draft.
James will move on with Paul, who started his own agency called Klutch Sports Management. He filed paperwork to approve the change on Wednesday, which will mark James's third agent since entering the league in 2003. He previously was a client of Aaron Goodwin.
"Being young and black and going into a business where you are trying to establish position and where you are able to make business decisions with the lack of what people would call an education, not having a degree ... no one wanted to give us a chance," Rich Paul told Yahoo! Sports in June. "We were able to come through that and learn from a lot of people that we had around us and position ourselves to be, not necessarily just successful economically, but successful from a positioning standpoint to have a bright future.
Throughout his career, James has developed into the NBA's most talented player and built his brand to a worldwide level.
James won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in his first season and has won three of the past four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards. He led the Heat to the championship for his first NBA title in 2012 and also won NBA Finals MVP.
He also has an NBA scoring title and has been named an All-Star for eight straight seasons.
James left CAA and Rose on amicable terms. Rose had previously worked on James' past two contracts, including a six-year deal he signed with the Heat in 2010.
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