Agent Takes Over as Assistant Kings GM

Hypothetical situation: If you were an NBA star, and your agent all of a sudden became the assistant GM of your team, it would be weird and freak everyone out, right? Like, this is something we expect from Michael Beasley, or was written into the tarot cards that DaJuan Wagner never got to cash.

Back to reality: It is happening. But the personalities involved are totally non-controversial: Kevin Martin, the Petrie-helmed Kings front office and a team that's hardly synonymous with shady. Oh, and agent Jason Levien isn't exactly among the ranks of pure evil. And, as Sactown Royalty notes, Levien isn't doing it for the money, or the glory of his clients -- since this front office position means he'll have to relinquish all agent-ly duties:

He's giving up all that -- potentially millions of dollars -- for a job that pays a few hundred thousand dollars tops. This is a huge deal for Levien and his family. This is a huge deal for the Kings, who are making a statement with this move. (And yeah, as Kfan noted, this is a big deal for Martin, too, even if on appearances.)

Levien is not trifling around by taking this job (if it does come to pass -- everything seems a bit based on innuendo in Sam Amick's piece with neither side confirming). I can only assume Levien would feel he's in line for succession.

So instead of this being one of those "slimeball rides star's coattails to prominence in the league," this might be the opposite: Agent reps a slept-on, uber-effective talent because he sees something there. Sure, he's made money off of Martin, but more importantly, he had the foresight to look there. We aren't used to agent-as-scout, but there's something to it.

And yeah, expect Martin to become even more the man in Sactown. However, pretty much everyone with a brain and League Pass knows that should be the case.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.