For Adele and sports agent Rich Paul, their love is not a game. The pair were first recognised publicly on July 17, 2021, during Game 5 of the NBA Finals, as the Milwaukee Bucks won out the Phoenix Suns 123-119. After they were spotted courtside in 2021, a source confirmed to PEOPLE that the award-winning singer had been seeing Paul for “a few months.” Adele also revealed to Vogue about attending the match as a pair for her November 2021 cover story.
“I didn’t mean to go public with it. I just wanted to go to the game,” she stated. “I really adore being around him. I just love it.”
Adele commented about Paul, “He’s fantastic. He’s so f—ing funny. He’s really brilliant, you know.”
Since their initial public outing, the two have cozied up at additional basketball games, shared a date night in Los Angeles, took a romantic vacation in Italy and even attended the 2023 Super Bowl, where they sat in the VIP section with JAY-Z and Paul McCartney.
So, who is the man receiving Adele’s dearest devotion? From meeting LeBron James to becoming one of the industry’s most powerful sports agents, here’s everything to know about Rich Paul and his relationship with Adele.
He is the founder of a sports agency
While Adele may be a force in the music world, Paul is a mainstay on the sports scene.
As the founder of Klutch Sports Group, Paul represents some of the biggest names in basketball – LeBron James, Ben Simmons and Trae Young.
Notorious for striking hard deals, he managed the New Orleans Pelicans’ transfer of Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, who would go on to win the title in 2020.
In a The New Yorker story published in May 2021, Paul was described by one NBA general manager as “totally persistent in getting his players what they want, and he would utilise whatever method available to him to do it.”
He is from Cleveland, Ohio
Although Paul currently calls Beverly Hills home, he was born and reared in Cleveland, Ohio, where his late father, Rich Sr., had a corner store called R & J Confectionery.
Paul had enrolled in the University of Akron but switched to Cleveland State when Rich Sr. was stricken with intestinal cancer. He dropped out of college a few months after his father’s death.
“Dad was always telling me my education was vital,” Paul told The New Yorker about his dad. “I always wanted to work. But I still probably would have finished school if my father was living. I never wanted to let him down.”
He dreamed of being an athlete \srich paul \sLeBron James (L) and Rich Paul. JERRITT CLARK/GETTY
In his feature with the New Yorker, Paul noted that he “certainly wanted to be an athlete” growing up but realised that he had to think outside of the box to find a job in athletics.
“Your heart is big, but I’m small in size,” he stated, explaining that he started to think like his father “as an entrepreneur and businessman.”
In 2022, he met his first — and potentially biggest — client, James, as they were both waiting for a trip to Atlanta at the Akron-Canton Airport. At the time, Paul was selling antique sports jerseys, and the real Houston Oilers jersey he had on impressed James.
Paul began working with James shortly after the basketball superstar was chosen into the NBA. With James and his childhood mates Maverick Carter and Randy Mims, Paul and the gang became known as the Four Horsemen.
“I simply felt like Rich was someone I wanted to grow with,” James told ESPN Magazine in 2012. “He’d always kept it genuine with me, and I wanted him to be down with my team.”
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