Adele Is Dating One Of The Most Polarizing And Powerful Men In The NBA — And Just Lost Her Cool Talking About It To Oprah
When you keep something secret for a while, it's natural to be that much more excited to talk about it.
That's what we assume was going on when Oprah asked Adele about her new beau, famed NBA agent Rich Paul, during the interview portion of her CBS One Night Only special. When Oprah finally asked the singer about her newly public romance, she seemed overjoyed to finally be able to discuss it, immediately listing out Paul's best qualities.
"He's just hilarious," she told Winfrey. "Oh, he's so funny, he's hilarious, yeah. And very smart. You know, he's very, very smart. It's quite incredible watching him do what he does."
"What he does" is manage the public and professional lives of some of the most famous stars in basketball, most notably LeBron James. Paul and James were close before James entered the NBA, and when he did he brought Paul in to manage his events, networking, and brand. This eventually led to Paul learning the ropes of being a sports agent and subsequently starting his own firm, Klutch Sports Group, with none other than LeBron James as his first client. Klutch Sports now represents stars such as Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, Ben Simmons, John Wall, and Tristan Thompson.
There is no understating how high-profile this relationship is: We all know Adele, but those who aren't familiar with sports may not know exactly how big Rich Paul really is. For context, he was number nine on Forbes' 2020 list of top 10 most powerful people in the world.
To Adele, though, he's the guy she met on the dance floor at a mutual friend's party. She told Oprah (on top of his many other attributes) that he's an amazing dancer. She apparently tried to convince him to "sign her," and though she's not playing basketball now (and they didn't begin their romance immediately after, it seems she did capture his attention with her pitch.
