World Wide Wes to become agent with CAA

[Smooth]

Report: William 'Worldwide Wes' Wesley to Become Agent for Coaches
3/06/2010 1:15 PM ET By Tom Ziller

The name William Wesley is something to be feared or loved, depending on your perspective. For most college coaches not named John Calipari, finding out a top high school prospect is attached to the man dubbed "Worldwide Wes" makes chasing the kid in question a virtual dead end: Wes has a famously strong relationship with Calipari, reportedly influencing Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans to attend Memphis in recent years. Wesley is considered the most powerful man in basketball by many, with the ear of megastars like LeBron James, close relationships with all the top entertainers (including Jay-Z, minority owner of the Nets) and too much charisma and smarts to measure.

But Wes has always done his work in the dark, behind closed doors or in the shadows of after-hours. He's famously media shy, having only really become a household name among basketball fans thanks to brilliant reporting from TrueHoop's Henry Abbott and GQ's Alex French. As such, today's report from Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated that Wesley will became a certified agent for coaches at the NCAA and NBA levels is pretty stunning.

Davis reports Wesley will soon sign a contract with CAA, the juggernaut agency which represents some of the world's top celebrities (Oprah, Letterman, Spielberg, Pitt) ... and a few basketball players, including LeBron and Dwyane Wade, this summer's top two free agents. Wes will mostly represent NBA coaches, but also plans to mix in a few college coaches.

What's this all mean? Ask your minister, because I can't quite figure it out. If Wes were focusing on college coaches, you could see how he'd be able to place his clients in seriously advantageous positions. As Davis notes, athletic directors would be putty in Wesley's hands -- his clients could land outrageous deals just on the off-chance they could become a Calipari spillover. But what's the game in the NBA? Will it work the same way? Is Wes trying to use his access to LeBron, Rose, Evans and others in order to make some cash off some lucrative coaching contracts?

Or is this a behind-the-scenes power play? Is Wes lobbing a grenade at the infamous Pump brothers, two twins who basically run the college coach placement game? If so, what's the NBA got to do with it? Is Calipari or another of Wesley's friends looking to make the leap? Is Wes assembling as much influence as possible heading into the biggest summer of free agency in decades?

We'll see. If nothing else, this boosts the intrigue quotient.​

 

[theSTEREO.]

This is weird...

What's his game?

Maybe he really is trying to get Caliperi in as the new Nets coach, and is trying to exploit the pocketbook of that Russian dude.

But, isn't he already making insane amounts of cash behind the scenes?

I guess CAA is a pretty insane powerhouse though, so maybe he's getting a pretty hefty salary just to have him on their roster, not to mention the cash he'll put together in commissions. Does CAA already represent athletes/sports figures?

Gotta think though that this starts pushing his backdoor games out of the picture if he's making himself a more visible public figure.

 

[Wine and Gold]

I've heard about this being a direction that he was planning on taking. I'm sure we'll all find out the reason why in the not too distant future, when we hear who some of his clients are going to be.

Leon is handling the player side of things, and now Wes will take on the coaching side. My guess is it's a way in which to influence more at the college level gettng Nike contracts with some of the top college programs.

When it comes to Wes, all roads lead through Nike's interests.

 

[NarlCavs]

It's probably a good thing since it gets him a little more out of the shadows so more light can be shown on him.

I get a feeling they'll be more NCAA infractions and investigations on the way as an outcome of this.

 

[Triumph36]

I'm assuming this is his way of transitioning into an above-board business, lessening the chances of any serious action taken against him.

Honestly, this is kinda disappointing. It removes a lot of the mystique about him. I realize a lot of what he did is not legal....but having a guy with such an ambiguous, yet extremely connected business was just fascinating.

Hopefully this increases the chances of a movie being made about his life

edit: tho I guess him signing with that agency isn't surprising. Their client list is a who's who of the entertainment industry.

 

[Josh Criiiiibbs]

While I didn't agree before, now that he is an agent at CAA, he is definitely more powerful than Lebron James

 

[Jon]

Won't this put an end to his antics? Wouldn't he fall under all the strictures limiting agents interacting with NCAA players? Or does it matter that he'd be a coach's agent and not a player's?

Sounds to me like he's going legit, but you can never be sure when dealing with a guy who knows how to work all the angles.

 

[TAS]

While I didn't agree before, now that he is an agent at CAA, he is definitely more powerful than Lebron James

I've heard that there were some communication difficulties between Mike Brown and LeBron James at the beginning and that Mike Brown would tell Wes to tell LeBron because that's how much players listen and trust Wes.