HoopsHype.com Rumors

Syracuse University basketball player James Southerland has signed with NBA agent Mark Bartelstein's Chicago-based Priority Sports. Southerland, a 6-foot-8 forward, helped Syracuse to the NCAA's Final Four last season. Southerland averaged 13.3 points per game for the Orange. He led Syracuse with 84 made 3-point shots. He made 39.4 percent of his shots from outside the 3-point line. The Post-Standard

Draft, Mark Bartelstein, Agents, James Southerland 

Jeff Goodman: Trey Burke's father will represent him as NBA agent, but I was told Rich Paul went hard after him -- with LeBron reaching out to Burke. Twitter

Draft, Agents, Rich Paul, Trey Burke 

Chris Broussard: Baylor PG Pierre Jackson signs with Tony Dutt and Colin Bryant of Dutt Sports Management, sources say Twitter @Chris_Broussard

Draft, Agents, Tony Dutt, Pierre Jackson 

Peter Vecsey: Norman Blass, the first agent to represent NBA players--all the bigs--died April 2. He was 85. Condolences to wife, Jaclyn, and three sons. Twitter @PeterVecsey1

Agents, Norman Blass 

Jorge Sierra: Mike Silverman tells HoopsHype he will represent USC's Dewayne Dedmon. Silverman is the agent for Quincy Acy too. po.st/iZjlHo Twitter @hoopshype

Draft, Agents, Dewayne Dedmon, Mike Silverman 

Tim Hardaway Jr. will have a familiar face representing him at the next level. The former Michigan guard signed with Priority Sports & Entertainment this week, an agency headed up by well-known NBA agent Mark Bartelstein. If the name sounds familiar, it should. Bartelstein is the father of former Michigan captain Josh Bartelstein, who was a teammate of Hardaway's for the past three seasons in Ann Arbor. Booth Newspapers

Draft, Mark Bartelstein, Agents, Tim Hardaway Jr 

NBA player agent and Wasserman Media Group Vice Chair Arn Tellem spoke to SportsBusiness Journal following the announcement that his longtime client, Wizards C Jason Collins, is gay. Sports Business Daily

Jason Collins, Arn Tellem, Agents 

Arn Tellem: Ultimately, we agreed to do it with Sports Illustrated for a couple of reasons. They agreed to two conditions I had. One, that I wouldn’t tell them the player's name. That had to remain confidential until the time of the interview. And two, what was appealing to using Sports Illustrated was the fact that Jason could write a personal piece, in his own words, which I thought was the best way -- and so did Jason -- for him to make this announcement. Once we agreed, we followed through with that. We waited until after the season, not to be done while he was playing. We decided to wait until after the season. And because Jason was concerned that he wanted -- not to be outed -- he wanted to do it on his terms. ... he wanted to control the way the message was delivered, not somebody else. Sports Business Daily

Jason Collins, Arn Tellem, Agents 

Do you think Jason will get signed during free agency? Arn Tellem: I don’t anticipate there will be any problems. Jason is a pro’s pro. He is the consummate professional. He has been in the league for 12 years and he has a body of work. He is a valued and respected teammate and a great player to have on a team. He has helped teams win his entire career. He was the starting center on the Nets team that went to the Finals twice. Sports Business Daily

Free Agency, Jason Collins, Arn Tellem, Agents 

Arn Tellem: All I can say is this announcement had absolutely nothing to do with marketing or endorsements. It's about someone being able to live his life as he chooses and asking people to accept who he is as a person, based on his character and his accomplishments, and nothing more. There’s been no discussions, no thought of endorsements. Sports Business Daily

Jason Collins, Arn Tellem, Agents 

Michael Lelchitski: We are extremely proud to announce that NBA Draft prospect Alex Len has joined the Sports International Group family! Twitter

Draft, Agents, Alex Len 

Jorge Sierra: Charles Briscoe of BSMSports tells HoopsHype he will represent Kentucky's Archie Goodwin and Marquette's Junior Cadougan. Twitter @hoopshype

Draft, Agents, Archie Goodwin, Charles Briscoe 

Jorge Sierra: Southern Mississippi's Dwayne Davis has signed with agent Keith Kreiter. He was named to the All-PIT Team earlier this month. Twitter @hoopshype

Draft, Agents, Dwayne Davis, Keith Kreiter 

Jorge Sierra: Agent Seth Cohen tells HoopsHype he will now represent Providence's Ricky Ledo and Sherwood Brown of Florida Gulf Coast University. Twitter

Draft, Agents, Ricky Ledo, Sherwood Brown, Seth Cohen 

Simmons breaks down why he thinks James will eventually join forces with music mogul Jay-Z, who recently divested his interest in the Brooklyn Nets in order to partner with Creative Artists Agency as a sports agent. This is the same agency that James left back in September to sign with childhood friend and former CAA agent Rich Paul as part of a new agency called Klutch Sports. To be clear, Simmons offers a disclaimer that his idea is his own and not based on the sort of insider info that Simmons so often cites. USA Today Sports

Miami Heat, LeBron James, Jay-Z, Agents, Rich Paul 

The man at the center of the proposed reunion is William "Worldwide Wes" Wesley, the CAA coach's agent whose ties to James have been well-chronicled and, as the premise goes, has such an overwhelming and eternal influence on the best basketball player on the planet that he'll convince him to come back. But there is no reason to anticipate this happening. The time has officially come to stop romanticizing the relationship with James and Wesley, and not only because of the obvious fact that the soon-to-be four-time MVP was willing to leave him behind and work with Paul in a partnership that isn't ending anytime soon. The 'Worldwide Wes' factor as it related to James had a Wizard-of-Oz feel to it all along, but the reality in the here and now is that James has long since moved on from that overhyped chapter and, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, the two hardly, if ever, speak these days.The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of their relationship. USA Today Sports

Miami Heat, LeBron James, Jay-Z, Agents, Rich Paul 

It is a fact James' agent, Rich Paul, has eagerly created anticipation for James' possible return in 2014, but eventually his client will have to spare himself the pummeling of raising Northeast Ohio's hopes, only to dash them under closer inspection of the move. Yahoo! Sports

Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, LeBron James, Coaching, Mike Brown, Agents, Rich Paul 

Sports Agent Blog has learned that Carter-Williams held meetings with agents and supposedly narrowed his agent selection process down to three groups: ASM Sports, Excel Sports Management and the new Roc Nation Sports/Creative Artists Agency (CAA) partnership. The latest information received by Sports Agent Blog is that Carter-Williams has removed Roc Nation/CAA from the mix and is now between Andy Miller of ASM and Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports. Sports Agent Blog

Draft, Jeff Schwartz, Andy Miller, Agents, Michael Carter-Williams 

Liz Mullen: NBA player agent Jim Tanner of Williams & Connolly has signed Illinois G Brandon Paul for representation for the NBA Draft. Twitter @SBJLizMullen

Draft, Agents, Brandon Paul, Jim Tanner 

Chris Broussard: Texas' Myck Kabongo signs w/Rich Paul's Klutch Sports, sources say. Kabongo - 14p, 5a, 5r - seen as 1R pick, range is late lotto to early 2R Twitter

Draft, Agents, Myck Kabongo, Rich Paul