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WMG weathers departure of Tellem, talent

When Arn Tellem left Wasserman Media Group this summer for a job with Detroit Pistons owner Palace Sports & Entertainment, it was something for which the agency had long prepared and expected.

Jabari Parker of the Milwaukee Bucks left WMG after Arn Tellem’s departure.
Photo by: NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
But as happens when a powerful agent leaves an agency, there have been talent defections. Since Tellem departed, seven NBA players — LaMarcus Aldridge, Jamal Crawford, Danilo Gallinari, Gerald Henderson, Al Horford, Joe Johnson and Jabari Parker — have left. Two others, Mike Miller and Mike Dunleavy, left while Tellem was still at Wasserman. And two others, brothers Marc and Pau Gasol, remain Wasserman clients but are evaluating options.

Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook is among 43 players to stay with Wasserman.
Photo by: NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
Meanwhile, 43 NBA players, including superstars Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose and Anthony Davis, have stayed with the agency, which will still represent more than 10 percent of the players in the NBA.

“With B.J. Armstrong, Thad Foucher and Darren Matsubara heading our basketball business we are highly confident about our ability to maintain our leadership position,” WMG founder and Chairman Casey Wasserman said.
The defections come after Wasserman agents negotiated more than $700 million in NBA contracts over the summer, including Aldridge’s $80 million contract with the Spurs and Gallinari’s two-year, $34 million extension with the Nuggets, before they left. Wasserman agents also negotiated big deals for clients who have stayed, including Davis’ five-year, $145 million deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, Brook Lopez’s three-year, $60 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets and Robin Lopez’s four-year, $54 million deal with the New York Knicks.

Tellem, who joined Wasserman in 2006, announced in June that he was leaving to take the position of vice chairman at Palace Sports & Entertainment, and his last day at Wasserman was Aug. 3. Tellem declined to comment for this story.

Tellem, 61, was part of an ownership group that unsuccessfully bid on the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, so his departure was something that did not take Wasserman by complete surprise.

WASSERMAN  MEDIA GROUP  
BASKETBALL CLIENTS


Represented by Thad Foucher
Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Raymond Felton, Kenneth Faried, Terrence Jones, Jrue Holiday, Kendrick Perkins, Kyle Anderson, Ray McCallum, Norman Powell

Represented by Darren Matsubara
Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Bojan Bogdanovic
Greivis Vasquez, Steven Adams, Tyreke Evans
Quincy Pondexter, Brandon Knight, Joel Embiid
Jeff Withey, Luc Mbah a Moute

Represented by B.J. Armstrong
Derrick Rose, Salah Mejri, Draymond Green
JaVale McGee, Donatas Motiejunas, Bismack Biyombo, Omer Asik, Devyn Marble

Represented by Greg Lawrence
Kelly Olynyk, Spencer Hawes, Delon Wright
Tony Wroten, Kyle Singler, J.J. Redick

Represented by Josh Ketroser
Marcus Smart (with Jason Ranne), Kris Humphries (with Ranne)

Represented by Makhtar Ndiaye
Gorgui Dieng (with Thad Foucher)

Represented by Jason Ranne
Tiago Splitter, Mario Hezonja, Nemanja Bjelica

Clients evaluating options
Marc Gasol* (Arn Tellem), Pau Gasol (Tellem)

Recent departures
Mike Dunleavy (Tellem), Mike Miller (Tellem), LaMarcus Aldridge* (Tellem/Foucher), Danilo Gallinari* (Tellem), Joe Johnson (Tellem), Al Horford (Tellem/Armstrong), Jabari Parker (Tellem/Armstrong), Gerald Henderson (Tellem/Armstrong), Jamal Crawford (Tellem/Lawrence)

* Player had Wasserman negotiate recent deal despite leaving or evaluating options.

Source: Wasserman Media Group

His son, Michael Tellem, who became a National Basketball Players Association-certified agent in 2013, left Wasserman recently and joined CAA Sports as an agent in its basketball division. Another agent, James Dunleavy, the brother of Mike Dunleavy, has also left Wasserman, but it was not clear where he was working last week.

Agents can and have used any perceived weakness to lure away an agency’s clients, and historically it’s typical for an agency to lose clients when a powerful agent departs.

In 2001, when NFL agent David Dunn left Leigh Steinberg’s old firm, the former Steinberg, Moorad and Dunn, more than 50 NFL player clients also left. Most joined Dunn at his new firm, Athletes First, but some went elsewhere.

When NFL agent Ben Dogra was fired by CAA Sports last year, 27 of the clients he represented or co-represented with other CAA Football agents left Dogra and re-signed with CAA Sports. But 28 that Dogra represented or co-represented with CAA Football agents went with him to Relativity Sports and three signed with other agents.

At Wasserman, of the players who left, all were either represented or co-represented by Tellem.

Aldridge was co-represented by Foucher, and Horford, Parker and Henderson were co-represented by Armstrong. Crawford was co-represented by agent Greg Lawrence. Josh Ketroser, Makhtar Ndiaye and Jason Ranne round out Wasserman’s roster of basketball agents.

Wasserman hired Ranne away from the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he was director of strategic planning. Ranne started his career at Wasserman and is now chief operating officer and executive vice president of team sports.

Tellem was both an NBA and MLB agent, but was much more involved in representing NBA players in recent years. Wasserman’s baseball business, which is run by agents Adam Katz and Joel Wolfe, has been unaffected by his departure.

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