Chris Paul teams up with Lebron James…marketing company

Well, if anyone was looking for a secondary story to accompany the hoopla surrounding Lebron James’ free agency decision, you may have just found it.

Lebron and his marketing company LRMR have lured New Orleans PG Chris Paul away from Octagon and into the LRMR fold.

James and LRMR CEO Maverick Carter have been recruiting Paul for more than two years to join their fledgling marketing company, and the All-Star guard finally informed his agency at Octagon that he had decided to leave.

LRMR has yet to make a formal announcement that Paul will be joining them, and sources believed they might have been waiting to use James’ Thursday night free-agent announcement as a backdrop to release the story.

“He’s left Octagon,” Paul’s agent Jeff Austin told Yahoo! Sports.  ”We’re proud of the work we did with him over the past five years.  We wish him nothing but the best.” (via Yahoo! Sports)

Wow.  Octagon is an established player in the sports marketing world.  They had negotiated various deals for Paul before his departure, including Right Guard and Team Jordan.  LRMR on the other hand, has seemingly been run largely on Lebron James’ own money and hasn’t really had any major players enter their client stable, they don’t even have a client roster listed on their website, until Paul’s signing. (NOTE: LRMR did sign Wide Receiver Ted Ginn a few years ago, O.J. Mayo briefly, and have wooed #1 NBA draft pick John Wall, but there seemingly hasn’t been much else)  Yet apparently, LRMR has something that Chris Paul values.

So, what has LRMR done for Lebron since he left Goodwin Sports?

Here’s where the cliff presents itself: since leaving Goodwin in late 2005, LeBron has inked deals with … Microsoft (a short-lived, low-impact partnership most NBA fans never saw), State Farm insurance, Cub Cadet lawnmowers and McDonald’s, the last of which was reportedly in the works before James left Goodwin. LeBron also recently reupped his Nike deal, with CNBC’s Darren Rovell reporting that it was likely for less per annum than the original 2003 deal negotiated by Goodwin. (via Fanhouse)

I’ll await for more information before rendering a verdict on Chris Paul…and his marketing career.

Tags: Chris Paul, Endorsements, LeBron James, LRMR Marketing, Sponsorship

Category: Basketball