Warren LeGarie is the most powerful man that most casual NBA fans have never heard of. He founded Las Vegas Summer League. He’s the agent for a variety of big-shot NBA executives, coaches and general managers, including Executive Vice President of the NBA Kiki Vanderweghe, Dallas Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle, Portland Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey and Trail Blazers Head Coach Terry Stotts, among many others.
LeGarie spoke with Ethan Strauss, and the latter shared the audio on his podcast House of Strauss, which he co-hosts with his wife, Allie.
(h/t to Reddit user kubideh_kaczynski for the transcription):
“[Kyrie Irving’s agent] Jeff[rey Weschler] likes to manufacture his own self-importance so he creates, maybe, um, some issues that really weren’t issues but Jeff decides ‘I need to shake things up a little bit.’ I remember when he had, uh, the guy, that used to be for the Clippers, up in Portland… Darius Miles, he started manufacturing issues up there, and so you start understanding there’s a certain MO to the way he works and Kyrie’s important to him because he doesn’t have that many clients so I’m sure he needs to make sure that, uh, that he had to show Kyrie that ‘I’m fighting for you, see?’ I’m not sure what he’s fighting for, other than he was going to get paid there, or… he has been paid, there’s no question but… Maybe sharing the spotlight is a problem, I guess.”
So, LeGarie is essentially saying that he feels Weschler’s whispers were probably to blame for Irving growing tired of playing next to LeBron James and wanting to be “the guy” on a different team.
Weschler recently signed rookies Jayson Tatum and Jonathan Isaac, both of whom were drafted in the first half of the lottery.
