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Iguodala confident as Rosenthal takes charge at Landmark

Golden State Warrior Andre Iguodala says his agent, Brandon Rosenthal, is like the assistant coach who finally gets his shot to be the head coach.

“It’s similar to the coach who went to Washington from Syracuse — Mike Hopkins,” Iguodala said in a telephone interview. Hopkins was the longtime assistant coach to Syracuse head basketball coach Jim Boeheim before being named to the head coaching position for the Washington Huskies hoops team in March.

“Mike has been waiting in the wings for Boeheim to leave for the longest, but Boeheim just stuck around,” Iguodala said. “But you know, ‘Hop’ is now the head coach.”

Andre Iguodala says he will remain with Landmark Sports.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Iguodala said last week that he is staying with Landmark Sports and will be represented by Rosenthal, after Rob Pelinka left the agency to become general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers.

When Pelinka left the Los Angeles-based NBA player representation firm in March, many in the industry and the media thought there would be a mass exodus of NBA players from the firm. But so far, that hasn’t been the case. One player, Minnesota Timberwolves guard/forward Shabazz Muhammad, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, has left the agency. There is a 15-day window, under National Basketball Players Association rules, between when an NBA player can fire one agent and sign with a new one. Muhammad was in that window last week and had not signed with another agent.

All of the other 15 NBA clients of Landmark Sports, who include Houston Rockets guard James Harden and Cleveland Cavaliers center/forward Channing Frye and forward Derrick Williams, have stayed. Under NBA conflict-of-interest rules, Pelinka had to release all of his player clients and relinquish his interest in the firm. Sources said the firm, which is now being run by Rosenthal, may be for sale and other agencies have looked at buying it.

Rosenthal, who has worked at Landmark since it formed in 2006 and became an NBPA-certified agent in 2010, declined comment for this story.

Pelinka, who was best known as Kobe Bryant’s agent before taking the GM job, was the name agent of Landmark. But Rosenthal has been a big player behind the scenes, Iguodala said.

“He played an intricate part in my previous negotiations,” Iguodala said of Rosenthal’s work to help him move from the Denver Nuggets to Golden State in 2013. Iguodala, a guard/forward, won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award in 2015. “He has done all the number crunching and figuring out how I could go to [Golden] State.”

Iguodala will be an unrestricted free agent, again, this summer and said he wants Rosenthal to handle the process for him. Rosenthal will work with Rudy Cline-Thomas, Iguodala’s business partner.

Iguodala said free agency is not his focus right now. “I am focused on the team and how I can help them to get the chance to win the championship,” he said.

> ICM SIGNS BROADCASTERS: ICM Partners has signed ESPN broadcaster Jonathan Coachman and NFL Network host Erin Coscarelli for representation.

ICM agents Ted Chervin, Heather Karpas, Matt Sorger and Mark Zimmerman are representing Coachman. Coachman was formerly represented by Playbook Inc.

ICM agents Courtny Catzel, Will Horowitz, Justin Ianda, Tyler Kroos, Lou Oppenheim and Zimmerman are representing Coscarelli. She was formerly represented by WME.

Hollywood agency ICM expanded its representation of both news and sports broadcasters this year when it acquired New York-based Headline Media Management, which specializes in representing television announcers and analysts.

> MLB PLAYERS RETURN TO CSM: California Sports Management has re-signed Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco and Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Neftali Feliz as clients.

Both players will be represented by MLB agent Greg Maroni, who founded Sacramento-based CSM in 2007. CSM had represented both Franco and Feliz since 2008, but both players left for BTI Sports in October 2015. Both players returned to CSM this season.

Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.

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