Report: LeBron James changing agents, will be repped by childhood friend

Interesting tweet from Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal:

LeBron James is leaving CAA to be represented by his childhood friend Rich Paul, who is also leaving CAA, sources said. #NBA—
Liz Mullen (@SBJLizMullen) September 13, 2012

Paul is one of the R’s in LRMR, the marketing agency that James formed several years ago with three of his Akron buddies. Paul recently got into the agent business (he represents Tristan Thompson, Jonny Flynn and Cory Joseph) and was apprenticing under James’ former agent, Leon Rose, at Creative Artists Agency.

This marks the second time that James has changed representatives. He entered the league in 2003 with Aaron Goodwin as his agent before switching to Rose in ’05.

What does this all mean? Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel took to Twitter to hazard some guesses:

@SBJLizMullen word of LeBron leaving CAA significant. It would means he, Bosh, Wade no longer under same umbrella. sulia.com/c/miami-heat/f…—
Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) September 13, 2012

Remember, LeBron has opt out in 2014 offseason. A new agent (agency) would only start collecting on new contract. sulia.com/c/miami-heat/f…—
Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) September 13, 2012

Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld.com offers a rejoinder:

LeBron James could hire anyone as his agent. He's going to have max contract offers and plenty of opportunities regardless of who reps him.—
Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) September 13, 2012

Roger Montgomery once told me, “All you need is a cell phone and a fax machine to represent LeBron James.” It's true. He makes the job easy.—
Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) September 13, 2012

Still others wonder if this could signal the beginning of an exodus from CAA.