HoopsHype.com Rumors

Joe Kotoch: Potential 1st pick Ben McLemore down to a final 2 of Tony Dutt & Rich Paul for representation. Dutt w/ pipeline in Lawrence last few years. Twitter @Probballdraft

Draft, Agents, Rich Paul, Tony Dutt, Ben McLemore 

A team source confirmed reports coach Mark Jackson hired super agent Arn Tellem and fired Steve Kauffman. The move happened months ago, but the source said it was not part of Jackson's plan to get a new contract form Golden State. Jackson hired Kauffman presuming he had to hire an agent of coaches. When he learned he could retain Tellem, Jackson's representative as a player, Jackson made the switch. San Jose Mercury-News

Golden State Warriors, Coaching, Mark Jackson, Arn Tellem, Agents, Steve Kauffman 

Tellem is Warriors general manager Bob Myers' former boss and close friends with executive board member Jerry West. Jackson has two seasons left on his contract, next season is guaranteed and the Warriors hold an option for 2014-15. Without any further guarantees, Jackson would enter next season as a virtual lame duck in potentially his final contract year. San Jose Mercury-News

Golden State Warriors, Coaching, Mark Jackson, Jerry West, Arn Tellem, Agents, Steve Kauffman, Bob Myers 

Steve Luhm: Aldridge talked to agent Keith Glass, who is apparently advising Sloan. Very interesting aspect to this story. Sloan has never has an agent. Twitter @sluhm

Milwaukee Bucks, Coaching, Jerry Sloan, Agents, Keith Glass 

In a letter to USA TODAY Sports, Daina Falk reflected on her unexpected role in the story while discussing the power of fandom that was so evident in both cities in the last five months. Excerpts from the letter are below: In January, I was notified of a handshake deal that would drastically affect the fate of the fans of Sacramento and Seattle. Because of my name, everyone assumed my source was my father. They must not know that his success has depended to a great degree on his ability to maintain the confidences of a number of competing clients. Other conspiracy theorists concluded that I was the designated mouthpiece of another David, who is someone I admire and respect and who has been a friendly supporter of mine. Suffice it to say, you can rule out the Davids as my source. Let’s leave it at that. For The Win

Sacramento Kings, Seattle SuperSonics, David Falk, Agents, Daina Falk 

Sacramento inherited the Kings from Kansas City in 1985. For nearly thirty years, Kings fans have been among the loudest, strongest, and most loyal fans in the NBA. (Cowabunga). Seattle acquired an expansion franchise in 1967 and had a very successful team that won an NBA Championship in 1979. It lost the team to Oklahoma City in 2008. Both cities have experienced “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” The current controversy has brought out the best qualities of the fans in both cities: their passion, their competitiveness, and their true love of the game. For all the fans in Seattle who are truly hungry for a return of NBA basketball to the Queen City, keep your voices raised, keep the wave going, create a true Sonic boom so loud it will rattle the windows in Olympic Tower in New York! For The Win

Sacramento Kings, Seattle SuperSonics, David Falk, Agents, Daina Falk 

Gery Woelfel: All in the Family: Clifford, like Hammond and Weltman, are all represented by Steve Kauffman. Twitter @GeryWoelfel

Milwaukee Bucks, Coaching, Jeff Weltman, John Hammond, Agents, Steve Kauffman, Steve Clifford 

Liz Mullen: NBA Agent David Falk has signed Georgetown's Otto Porter for representation in the NBA Draft. Twitter @SBJLizMullen

Draft, David Falk, Agents, Otto Porter 

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