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Description: Dallas, Texas civil litigation lawyer represented Plaintiff, who sued Defendant on breach of contract theories.


Noel began his NBA career as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers after being selected in the first round of the 2013 NBA draft. See id. at 2. After three and a half years in Philadelphia, Noel was traded to the Dallas Mavericks during the middle of the 2016-17 NBA season. Id. at 2-3. Noel had a successful finish to the season with the Mavericks and became a restricted free agent the following summer. Id. When the NBA free agency period opened in July 2017, the Mavericks offered Noel a four-year contract worth $70 million. Id. Noel's agent at the time of the offer was Happy Walters (Walters). Id. at 3.

Around the time Noel received the Mavericks contract offer, Noel met Paul for the first time at a birthday party for a former teammate. Id. At the party, Noel claims that Paul “made a pitch to become Noel's agent.” Id. at 4. The pitch consisted of Paul telling Noel that he “was a [$]100 million man” and that, if Noel fired Walters and hired Paul, Paul would get Noel a deal at the league maximum salary. Id. According to Noel, Paul also “advised Noel that he should cease negotiations with Dallas, accept [a] single year qualifying offer, and seek a max deal on the free agent market the following season.” Id.

Paul's pitch was successful. The month after the party, Noel terminated his relationship with Walters and executed a Standard Player Agent Contract (the SPAC) with Paul. Id. “The SPAC is a standard form agreement used for all NBA player and agent contracts” that is drafted by the National Basketball Players Association (the NBPA), a union for NBA players. Id.; Doc. 4, Defs.' App., 42-44, 63. Shortly thereafter, Noel-on Paul's advice-accepted a one-year, $4.1 million contract to play for the Mavericks. Doc. 1-3, Pet., 4-5. In accordance with the SPAC, Paul “received a payment of 4% of the value of [Noel's] contract,” compensation Paul would not have been entitled to had Noel accepted the long-term offer negotiated by Walters. See id.

When the next season began, things took a turn for the worse. In “December 2017, Noel tore a ligament in his thumb . . . [,] had surgery to repair the ligament[,] and was forced to miss 42 games.” Id. at 5. After the season ended, Noel alleges that “Paul began to lose interest in [him] as a client.” Id. “[N]either Paul nor anyone at [KSG] presented any real proposals to Noel in terms of strategies or ideas on how Noel might secure a long-term contract or even a significant contract for the following season,” Noel claims. Id. As a result, Noel had “no real offers or deals” presented to him at the start of the 2018 free agency period, and he ultimately decided to join the Oklahoma City Thunder on a two-year, $3.75 million, league minimum deal with a player option for the second year that would allow him to test free agency again the following season. Id. at 5-6.

Noel played limited minutes for the Thunder during the 2018-19 season, during which time he avers that “neither Paul nor [KSG] made any effort to try and secure contracts or deals on [his] behalf.” Id. at 6. When the season ended, Noel, on Paul's advice, declined his player option and once again became a free agent. Id. When free agency began that July, rumors had circulated in NBA circles that Noel was primed to sign a new, lucrative three-year deal with the Thunder. Id. Noel believes that the rumors were started by Paul, a KSG employee, or the Thunder. Id. Unfortunately, however, these rumors never materialized, and, after receiving no offers from other teams, Noel signed a one-year league minimum deal to return to the Thunder for the 2019-20 season. Id. Noel posits that the false rumors about the three-year offer from the Thunder caused other teams to shy away from pursuing him during free agency on the assumption that Noel's return to the Thunder was predetermined. Id.

Sometime thereafter, Noel learned from a former coach that the 76ers had been interested in signing him, but that “Paul did not take and/or return any of the calls from the 76ers.” Id. at 7.

Noel “also learned that Paul was not returning or taking calls from other team representatives who were interested in signing Noel for their respective teams.” Id. “Concerned about the lack of effort or results, Noel contemplated terminating his relationship with Paul sometime in January 2020,” but decided not to after a KSG employee, Lucas Newton, “informed [him] that [KSG] had been talking to [the Thunder] on his behalf and that [they were] planning on offering Noel a three-year deal for between $7 and $10 million per year.” Id. However, on the first night of free agency the following November, “Noel did not hear from a single team.” Id. When Noel inquired about the Thunder's purportedly impending offer, Newton “advised [him] that the Oklahoma City deal was still in play and that they were just trying to move money around on the books to create cap space for the deal.” Id. at 7-8.

For reasons not pleaded, the Oklahoma City offer/deal never came to fruition. Noel later learned that, during the free agency period, two other teams had each been “trying to contact Paul, but that Paul was not taking or returning those calls.” Id. at 8. Noel ultimately signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the New York Knicks, which Noel claims was arranged only after the Knicks reached out to one of Noel's friends, who then connected the Knicks with Paul. Id. After years of frustration, things “came to a tilt in December 2020 when [Noel] learned that Paul had a history of mismanaging and ignoring” clients who were not deemed “marquee,” “costing them significant money.” Id. For this reason, “Noel . . . terminated his relationship with Paul and [KSG] on or around December 19, 2020.” Id.

Outcome: Motion to dismiss granted.

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Defendant's Experts:

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